God, Man Reconciled?
Pastor Tan Thai · Dec 20, 2015
This Christmas sermon asks why humanity needs reconciliation with God and whether that reconciliation has truly taken place. Sin has caused a separation between God and humanity, but God sent His Son to provide the way of reconciliation through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. Yet many people still reject this gift of salvation.
This sermon draws its theme from the well-known Christmas hymn 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,' particularly the phrase 'God and sinners reconciled.' The pastor adds a question mark to that phrase and poses two central questions: why do God and humanity need to be reconciled, and has that reconciliation truly taken place? This theological framing serves as the foundation for the entire message.
The first section explains that God created humanity for relationship with Him (Genesis 1:27-28), but sin created an unbridgeable separation (Isaiah 59:2, Romans 3:23-24). All human efforts — good works, philosophy, education, morality — fail to restore that broken relationship. Only God's grace through faith is sufficient to save (Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:16). The path of reconciliation requires genuine repentance, receiving Jesus Christ as Savior, and inviting Him into one's life.
The second part of the sermon confronts the reality that many people still reject reconciliation with God. The pastor cites concrete examples: atheist billboard campaigns denying God's existence, Karl Marx's communist ideology declaring religion to be the opium of the people, philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche who pronounced 'God is dead,' and Voltaire's prediction that the Bible would be forgotten. All of these have proven false — billions of people still celebrate Christmas and the Bible remains the world's best-selling book.
The sermon also uses the stories of King Herod and Emperor Caesar Augustus from Matthew and Luke to illustrate that everyone in life has 'kings' and 'idols' ruling over them. These rulers — money, fame, career, comfort — always seek to drive out the true God, just as Herod tried to kill Jesus at His birth. This serves as a practical warning to every listener about the false gods competing for their allegiance.
The sermon concludes with a strong affirmation from 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 and Colossians 1:21-22 that God has already reconciled the world to Himself through Christ, not counting people's sins against them. The remaining question is not whether God is willing to reconcile, but whether each person is willing to respond to His love. Listeners are called to choose between the true God and the idols of this world.