WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.320 It is so fantastic to see you all this evening, even though I can't physically see you because 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:07.179 it's so dark in here. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:10.339 It's such a great joy to be together this evening. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:15.220 Can you believe that there are only five days now until Christmas Day? 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:17.900 Put your hands up, and I think I'll see them. 00:00:17.980 --> 00:00:19.539 Put your hands up if you're all set. 00:00:21.379 --> 00:00:22.140 A few of us. 00:00:22.140 --> 00:00:27.480 Put your hands up if the 24-7 ASDA, you'll be there at 11.55 on Thursday evening. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:29.820 A few of us. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:30.420 It's good. 00:00:31.079 --> 00:00:36.079 Well, I wonder if you've ever thought about the strange things that we seem to do on Christmas 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:36.480 Day. 00:00:37.299 --> 00:00:40.240 I know in our family, growing up, I've got two brothers. 00:00:41.299 --> 00:00:46.820 Christmas Day, we would do things that we would do on no other day of the year. 00:00:46.820 --> 00:00:55.859 For example, on Christmas Day, it became acceptable to wear pajamas until about 2 o'clock in the 00:00:55.859 --> 00:00:56.240 afternoon. 00:00:56.340 --> 00:00:57.659 Is that just me and our brothers? 00:00:57.740 --> 00:00:58.539 Does anyone else do that? 00:00:58.539 --> 00:01:00.219 2 o'clock in the afternoon? 00:01:00.219 --> 00:01:08.120 It also became acceptable, even though my dad was a dentist, to eat chocolate for breakfast, 00:01:08.420 --> 00:01:13.099 to eat sweets for breakfast, and to wash it all down with half a glass of iron brew. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:13.719 Anyone else? 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:14.859 Just me. 00:01:15.420 --> 00:01:16.060 Just me. 00:01:16.060 --> 00:01:21.740 On Christmas Day, another thing we used to do, you'll be like me in this one. 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:28.299 Even though no one had paid attention to them all year, Brussels sprouts became an acceptable 00:01:28.299 --> 00:01:31.719 form of vegetable to have on your plate at lunchtime. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:33.300 Is that fair enough? 00:01:33.299 --> 00:01:35.619 It's interesting, isn't it? 00:01:35.619 --> 00:01:38.599 We have that joke about whether turkeys would vote for Christmas. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:43.359 Well, I think Brussels sprouts would definitely vote for Christmas, for it's the only day of 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:44.840 the year that they actually get a look in. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:48.340 Brussels sprouts for Christmas Day. 00:01:48.399 --> 00:01:54.039 Well, I thought this evening we would embrace one of my personal favorites of strange things 00:01:54.039 --> 00:01:55.599 that we do on Christmas Day. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:00.979 So, if you look in front of you, and if you look behind you, you'll find your Christmas 00:02:00.979 --> 00:02:01.439 hat. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:06.060 I thought it would be great if we could all wear our Christmas hats. 00:02:08.900 --> 00:02:09.340 Good. 00:02:09.379 --> 00:02:10.180 We're getting into this. 00:02:10.259 --> 00:02:10.560 Excellent. 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:12.699 There's plenty more dotting around. 00:02:12.780 --> 00:02:14.180 I think I bought 200 of them. 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:17.139 So, I think we should be all okay. 00:02:18.699 --> 00:02:20.039 It's interesting, isn't it? 00:02:20.039 --> 00:02:25.199 As a nation, on Christmas Day, all of a sudden it becomes acceptable to wear one of these 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:26.979 strange hats on your head. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:28.539 Does anyone else think that is strange? 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:33.659 Maybe there's a birthday occasion where you wear a hat, maybe for an hour or so, but from 00:02:33.659 --> 00:02:38.519 the minute you pull that cracker to the minute you go to sleep at night, you have to wear 00:02:38.519 --> 00:02:40.219 this Christmas hat. 00:02:40.259 --> 00:02:44.959 And if you take it off for a second, then you're called a Scrooge. 00:02:44.959 --> 00:02:48.219 I find the Christmas hat thing really strange. 00:02:49.579 --> 00:02:54.859 But I got thinking on it this week, and I want to suggest to us that we want to massively 00:02:54.860 --> 00:02:57.460 embrace the Christmas hat on Christmas Day. 00:02:58.580 --> 00:02:59.480 And here's why. 00:03:00.040 --> 00:03:06.820 Because I think this is a fantastic way of remembering what Christmas Day is all about. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:10.640 For it's a hat, but it's not really a hat, is it? 00:03:10.640 --> 00:03:11.280 It's a crown. 00:03:12.140 --> 00:03:14.500 And it's not a gold crown. 00:03:14.580 --> 00:03:17.060 It's not a worldly crown like our kings would wear. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:18.200 It's a paper crown. 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:19.700 It's a different crown. 00:03:19.699 --> 00:03:26.280 And it's amazing to think that Christmas is all about the coming of a different kind 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:27.199 of king. 00:03:29.079 --> 00:03:34.179 So what I want us to do just in a short time now is just to revisit those verses in Luke 00:03:34.179 --> 00:03:34.979 chapter 1. 00:03:35.799 --> 00:03:41.419 And I want us to see what the angel says to the shepherds about this king who is to be 00:03:41.419 --> 00:03:41.759 born. 00:03:41.859 --> 00:03:42.620 I'm going to go on the screen. 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:48.900 Let's read again just what the angel says to the shepherds from verse 8. 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:53.980 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks 00:03:53.980 --> 00:03:54.659 at night. 00:03:55.539 --> 00:03:59.259 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. 00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:00.240 And they were terrified. 00:04:01.259 --> 00:04:03.780 But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:09.700 I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 00:04:09.699 --> 00:04:14.399 Today in the town of David, a saviour has been born to you. 00:04:15.060 --> 00:04:16.959 He is the Messiah, the Lord. 00:04:17.719 --> 00:04:19.420 This will be a sign to you. 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:24.500 You will find a baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger. 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:29.899 So just two things I want us to see about this different kind of king. 00:04:31.219 --> 00:04:32.000 Two things. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:37.620 Firstly, the angel tells the shepherds that this king will have a different kind of birth. 00:04:37.620 --> 00:04:41.840 For notice the people that the angel is sent to. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:48.699 Who has God chosen as the first humans to hear this wonderful news? 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:49.959 What fine specimens? 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:57.280 What upstanding members of society has God personally targeted as the ones who will have 00:04:57.280 --> 00:04:59.899 that great privilege of the first ones to hear this news? 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:02.379 Well, shepherds. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:05.360 Now, we have to say that's a bit surprising. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:05.960 Shepherds. 00:05:06.699 --> 00:05:07.139 Shepherds. 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:11.620 Not so much men of influence, but men of isolation. 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:18.360 Shepherding in the day was a job considered to be for those at the very bottom of society. 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:24.759 This is a profession that you don't want your careers advisor at school to tell you you should be entering into. 00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:29.660 This is a job that carries with it a nasty stigma. 00:05:29.660 --> 00:05:33.100 Now, for shepherds were known for being notorious. 00:05:34.140 --> 00:05:36.800 Now, we have that carol, don't we, at this time of year that says, 00:05:36.880 --> 00:05:39.540 if I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. 00:05:40.640 --> 00:05:44.200 Well, if I was a shepherd, I'd steal a lamb is probably more closer to the truth. 00:05:44.300 --> 00:05:45.700 These guys are notorious. 00:05:45.940 --> 00:05:52.100 In fact, they're so notorious that a shepherd's witness was not permissible in court. 00:05:52.820 --> 00:05:55.940 Now, probably because they were the ones who were being taken to court. 00:05:55.939 --> 00:06:00.500 These are not guys that come off well in society. 00:06:01.660 --> 00:06:09.720 But it's to these insignificant and notorious outsiders that the angel goes to, 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:12.139 and they're the first people to hear this good news. 00:06:13.319 --> 00:06:16.620 You see, this is a different kind of king that we're dealing with here. 00:06:16.620 --> 00:06:23.100 And if the people are surprising, then we have to say that the place of the birth is even more surprising. 00:06:24.220 --> 00:06:29.399 This king, God's king, the setting for his birth, well, it's not the Sheraton suite. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:31.259 It's the stable suite. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:32.040 It's the manger. 00:06:33.300 --> 00:06:38.780 Not wrapped in finest cotton, but in frailest and dirty cloth. 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:44.560 This king will be born not into luxury, but this king will be born into poverty. 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:50.759 We can't help but notice that there's something incredibly simple, is there not, about this birth. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:53.420 There's no royal procession. 00:06:53.959 --> 00:06:56.899 There's no Bethlehem brass bands playing them in. 00:06:57.420 --> 00:06:58.620 There's no swagger. 00:06:58.780 --> 00:06:59.699 There's no grandeur. 00:06:59.800 --> 00:07:06.000 And yet, here is the most significant birth ever to have happened in human history. 00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:08.139 And why? 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:10.519 Well, notice who this message is for. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:11.199 Verse 10. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:13.879 It's for all people. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:16.040 Not a token gesture. 00:07:16.180 --> 00:07:17.280 Not a throwaway line. 00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:20.839 This message really is for all people. 00:07:21.620 --> 00:07:23.800 For rich and for poor. 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:25.939 For good and for bad. 00:07:26.060 --> 00:07:28.639 For insiders and for outsiders. 00:07:28.840 --> 00:07:31.360 For the religious and for the non-religious. 00:07:31.500 --> 00:07:33.560 For the prince and for the pauper. 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:34.560 For the king. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:37.780 This message really is for all the people. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:41.680 Because this is a different kind of king that we're dealing with here. 00:07:43.180 --> 00:07:52.060 And if he's a king that's marked by a different birth, well, the angel also tells the shepherds that he will be a king that will be marked by a different death. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:57.000 For notice the purpose of the coming of this child. 00:07:57.180 --> 00:07:57.980 Who is he? 00:07:59.079 --> 00:07:59.959 Well, verse 11. 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:02.560 This child is the saviour. 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:10.019 I always find it interesting that the shepherds, sorry, the angel leads with that. 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:12.379 Before the shepherds, you notice that? 00:08:12.420 --> 00:08:19.560 Before they learn that this good news centres around a child, they learn that this good news centres around a saviour. 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:25.939 For this is the theme that will dominate the life of this baby boy. 00:08:26.060 --> 00:08:29.240 This is the identity of the manger dweller. 00:08:30.300 --> 00:08:35.820 This God child is the long promised, the long expected Messiah. 00:08:36.700 --> 00:08:42.679 The anointed one who has come to save, who has come to deliver his people. 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:52.359 This God child has come to be the one who will smash, who will obliterate the sin barrier that has separated man and God. 00:08:52.819 --> 00:08:53.819 Now who's he going to do that? 00:08:53.820 --> 00:09:02.879 Well, God in the crib would grow up and go on to become God on the cross. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:07.840 As the child Jesus becomes the man Jesus. 00:09:08.340 --> 00:09:11.320 And dies our death. 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:14.159 Dies in our place at Calvary. 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:17.200 As this innocent man. 00:09:18.059 --> 00:09:20.419 As this God in the beginning. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.879 Takes the punishment that our sin deserved. 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:25.580 And takes it on himself. 00:09:25.580 --> 00:09:30.300 As Jesus gives us his perfect life. 00:09:30.400 --> 00:09:35.900 As he opens up the way for us to come and be reconciled to God the Father. 00:09:36.020 --> 00:09:38.220 To be reconciled to our creator. 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:44.800 You see friends, the good news of Christmas is the giving of God himself. 00:09:46.360 --> 00:09:49.759 You see, that's why the angels tell the shepherds that this is good news. 00:09:50.560 --> 00:09:51.660 This is good news. 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:53.960 This is not in other news. 00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:56.980 This is not noteworthy news. 00:09:57.620 --> 00:10:06.900 This is history altering, grace revealing, hope defining, life giving news on a scale that changes absolutely everything. 00:10:07.900 --> 00:10:12.200 That God would give his only son. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:16.460 That we might not perish. 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:19.720 But that we might believe in him. 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:23.240 And have eternal life. 00:10:23.960 --> 00:10:24.879 That is incredible. 00:10:26.379 --> 00:10:28.740 You see, the true light of the world has come. 00:10:29.040 --> 00:10:30.120 This is what we're doing at Christmas. 00:10:30.580 --> 00:10:32.800 The true light of the world has come. 00:10:33.060 --> 00:10:35.160 And it's unbelievable news. 00:10:37.100 --> 00:10:40.340 And so my question as we finish this evening. 00:10:40.340 --> 00:10:44.040 What kind of news is what kind of news is it to you? 00:10:44.040 --> 00:10:51.420 You see, the invitation at Christmas is for us to come out of the darkness. 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:54.720 To step out of this world of darkness. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:59.639 And come to the one who is the true light and life giver. 00:10:59.639 --> 00:11:07.460 To come and be reconciled to the God who created us and who so amazingly loves us. 00:11:07.460 --> 00:11:12.420 So let me encourage you to embrace the crown this year. 00:11:12.419 --> 00:11:18.599 See, Christmas is celebrating the coming of a different kind of king. 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:23.159 So let's finish with the lyrics of that great Christmas carol. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:25.519 Come thou long expected Jesus. 00:11:25.620 --> 00:11:26.740 Let me just read them to you. 00:11:26.740 --> 00:11:29.980 The carol goes like this. 00:11:29.980 --> 00:11:31.700 Born thy people to deliver. 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:34.539 Born a child and yet a king. 00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:37.460 Born to reign in us forever. 00:11:37.680 --> 00:11:39.940 Now thy gracious kingdom bring. 00:11:40.899 --> 00:11:43.320 By thine own eternal spirit. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:45.240 Rule in all our hearts alone. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.220 By thine all sufficient merit. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:51.180 Raise us to thy glorious throne. 00:11:51.179 --> 00:11:53.500 Why don't we just take a minute. 00:11:53.959 --> 00:11:58.179 And let's just be silent as we think about some of the things we've been reading and singing tonight. 00:12:17.019 --> 00:12:20.459 And just before Esther comes and reads that final reading for us. 00:12:20.460 --> 00:12:21.420 Let's pray together. 00:12:22.139 --> 00:12:25.060 Father, we're so thankful for our time together this evening. 00:12:25.920 --> 00:12:27.120 As we remember. 00:12:28.019 --> 00:12:29.040 And as we rejoice. 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:32.960 And as we celebrate the coming of the light off to the world. 00:12:33.060 --> 00:12:34.540 Into our world of darkness. 00:12:35.700 --> 00:12:39.060 Thank you, Father God, that you would go to such lengths. 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:44.420 Sending your own son to come and rescue us from our darkness. 00:12:45.820 --> 00:12:49.580 Father God, we ask that you would help us to be those who embrace him. 00:12:49.580 --> 00:12:50.800 Who love him. 00:12:50.800 --> 00:12:53.259 Who adore him this Christmas time, we ask. 00:12:53.560 --> 00:12:56.440 In Jesus' all-worthy and all-conquering name. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:57.200 Amen.