WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.500 In several hours there will be a ragtag family of believers in Nashville at Christ Church 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:13.120 praying for you and praising God, the same God that we're worshiping here. 00:00:13.120 --> 00:00:20.559 And I find it striking, moving, encouraging that no matter where you go in this world, 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:28.000 you can find people who've been deeply transformed by the Spirit of God to love and follow Jesus. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.359 It's wonderful to be here this morning. 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:35.039 When Derek asked me to preach part of this Advent series, he said it would be a sermon 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:40.120 series on songs, these sort of Christmas or Advent songs. 00:00:40.120 --> 00:00:45.200 So you'll have studied Mary's song a couple weeks ago and Zechariah's song last week, 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:46.200 was it? 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:49.700 And now this week we're going to look at the angels song that we read about from Luke 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:51.000 chapter two. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:55.719 And I thought, songs of Christmas, that's a clever sermon series. 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:57.439 I wonder how Derek came up with that idea. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:00:58.439 And then it hit me. 00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:00.039 It hit me last night. 00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:05.640 Derek and Corey must have watched Elf together because it was Buddy the Elf and all his wisdom 00:01:05.640 --> 00:01:12.759 that wisely said the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear. 00:01:12.759 --> 00:01:15.000 I actually think that's true. 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:16.280 It really is. 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:23.200 When we are overcome with awe, when we're delighted beyond just what a smile can convey, 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:28.359 when we're swallowed up with joy, when mere words fail us, then it's only natural. 00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:35.680 In fact, it's divine to put our words to meter and melody. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:38.520 So if you've been here the last couple of Sundays, you'll have heard about the song 00:01:38.520 --> 00:01:44.000 of Mary, a young Jewish maiden overcome with quiet awe. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:51.960 You'll have heard about the song of Zechariah, an older priest who put on the mantle of prophet 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:55.319 in sang a song of the Christ. 00:01:55.319 --> 00:01:59.039 But this song that we're going to look at today, the angel song in Luke 2, it's quite 00:01:59.039 --> 00:02:01.159 different. 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:07.119 Because to sing this song, God didn't send a maiden or a priest. 00:02:07.119 --> 00:02:10.079 He sent an army. 00:02:10.079 --> 00:02:16.919 And with all the efficiency and precision of the military, they delivered a short, sweet 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:24.000 song to celebrate news that could not be contained with mere words. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:29.879 So here's another Christmas song, but it's a song for a battlefield. 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:37.439 Now I'm sure you'll know all of you, the stories of the brave bagpipers in the battle of Kaladin. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:39.799 Am I allowed to talk about Kaladin as an American? 00:02:39.799 --> 00:02:40.799 Is that okay? 00:02:40.799 --> 00:02:41.799 All right. 00:02:41.799 --> 00:02:43.719 I'll take that as a yes. 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:52.520 The sound we're told of the bagpipes through perhaps the mist of the battlefield was meant 00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:56.879 to terrify the enemy. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:59.800 It was meant to strike fear into their hearts. 00:02:59.800 --> 00:03:05.439 It was meant to say to the opposing army, we're mighty. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:06.800 Fear us. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:07.800 Run. 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:09.439 This is a battle you don't want to fight. 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:13.759 And that's what battle songs are generally meant to do. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:20.199 It rallies your troops and puts fear in the heart of enemies. 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:29.120 But this heavenly host, this army of angels, they came to sing a better battle song. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:31.159 The angel song was meant to do two things. 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:39.039 Instead of pointing to the power and might of the army, this song pointed to the humility 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:41.840 of the king. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:46.120 And instead of causing enemies' hearts to tremble with fear, this song was meant to 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:50.879 cause their hearts to swell with hope. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:04:02.039 So look with me again at Luke 2, 13, and 14 if you have your Bibles with you. 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:11.000 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host or army praising God 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:19.639 and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:22.399 pleased. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:29.560 So the message of this heavenly battle song is that heaven has come onto this battlefield 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:37.040 of this war-torn world and our weary hearts with the humility of the king and the promise 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:38.800 of peace. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:42.360 So we're going to look at those two things in that order today, two points, the humility 00:04:42.360 --> 00:04:44.399 of the king and the promise of peace. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:47.600 Let me pray for the Lord's help. 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:55.079 Lord as we examine your word together, may you preach this good news to our hearts just 00:04:55.079 --> 00:05:00.719 as clearly and vividly and precisely as you did to those shepherds through your army of 00:05:00.719 --> 00:05:04.079 angels all those years ago. 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:09.800 We ask it for the glory of Christ and for our joy and peace. 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:11.959 Amen. 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:16.000 All right so point number one is the humility of the king. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:18.959 Because this is all about the birth of the king. 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:24.959 For many centuries the Jewish people had longed for, anticipated, someone called the 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:31.560 Christ and the Christ is just the sort of Greek word for the Messiah which was the Hebrew 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:34.680 word for what we would call the anointed one. 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:41.319 It's the anointed one of God, the divinely appointed king that God said would come and 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:51.919 reign forever, deliver them from their enemies, usher in a permanent era of peace. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:58.120 That's the king that they were longing for, for thousands of years. 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:03.439 The first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter three verse 15 speaks of him as the offspring 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:09.319 of the woman who would crush the serpent, the serpent who started all this mess in the 00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:11.439 first place. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:19.800 Deuteronomy speaks of him as a prophet greater than Moses if you can imagine that. 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:24.720 John Samuel speaks of him as David's son, David's offspring who would inherit David's 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:36.240 throne and rule not for a lifetime but forever and would bring total peace to the kingdom. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:40.680 Later the prophet Isaiah speaks of him as the Holy One of Israel, a chute from the stump 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:46.600 of Jesse, David's father, who would stand as a signal not just to the Jews but to all 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:52.040 peoples which is very good news for all of us for the most part, most of us being Gentiles, 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:58.960 that all nations would come to this longed for and anointed king, that his kingdom would 00:06:58.960 --> 00:07:01.480 encompass us all. 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:09.760 And now this anciently anticipated king is here. 00:07:09.760 --> 00:07:13.879 But instead of riding in on a warhorse as a king in the first century would be likely 00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:22.719 to do, instead of being born in a gilded palace, the Christ was born in absolute humility. 00:07:22.719 --> 00:07:26.439 In our passage that we're looking at today there's two clues to the humility of the 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:27.939 king. 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:36.279 The first clue is who the message is delivered to, who the song is sung to. 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:45.079 Shepherds, I don't know very well from first hand experience how you all look on shepherds 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:49.879 in your culture where it's not that far outside of the city limits. 00:07:49.879 --> 00:07:55.439 But in the first century shepherds were second class citizens or worse. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:01.319 Thought to be smelly, probably thieves, they were looked down on. 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:09.639 And so the first announcement of the arrival of the most anticipated figure in all of history 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:14.639 wasn't to influencers or the aristocracy or the bourgeoisie or anything like that. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:23.439 It was to really the dregs of society back then, the people who were lowly. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:32.159 The Lord of glory was announced to the lowliest people because he came to save the lowliest 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:34.360 people. 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:36.480 That's very good news for us. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:41.480 The prophet Isaiah puts it this way, Isaiah 57, 15, for thus says the one who is high 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:44.360 and lifted up. 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:47.759 And I love this, it's hard to think of grander language than this. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:54.559 The one who is high and lifted up who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:09:03.200 This is what that one says, quote, I dwell in the high and holy place and also with 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:10.080 him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:14.559 the heart of the contrite. 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:21.039 In other words, Christianity, people of the Christ, followers of Jesus, it's not a club 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:25.559 for people who have their act together. 00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:32.119 Jesus is not a savior for people who don't need saving. 00:09:32.119 --> 00:09:42.199 So if your life is a mess and maybe it looks good but inside you know I'm a mess, good. 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:46.520 You're exactly who Christ came to save. 00:09:46.520 --> 00:09:48.440 That's the first clue of the humility of the king. 00:09:48.440 --> 00:09:51.080 The second is the sign of the message. 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:54.240 Remember the angel came with a message and a sign. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:56.160 Message, the Christ is born. 00:09:56.160 --> 00:09:57.879 What's the sign? 00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:00.960 He says this is verse 12 of chapter 2. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:03.200 This will be a sign to you. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:05.320 You will find a baby wrapped in cloths. 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:07.320 Okay, good, this is normal, right? 00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:09.200 Swaddling clothes for a baby. 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:12.240 This is normal even of royal babies. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:18.720 You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:27.800 The king of the universe, the one by whom and for whom all things exist, was put in a feeding 00:10:27.800 --> 00:10:31.280 trough. 00:10:31.280 --> 00:10:37.680 Now I find it utterly striking that Jesus was not actually undignified by laying in 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:40.359 this manger. 00:10:40.359 --> 00:10:44.759 It's the way that we naturally tend to think is that when we put ourselves in undignified 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:47.959 places it kind of gets on us. 00:10:47.959 --> 00:10:49.799 It kind of brings us down. 00:10:49.799 --> 00:10:55.599 But to the contrary, go anywhere in the English speaking world where the gospel of Jesus Christ 00:10:55.599 --> 00:11:00.319 has come and you say the word manger, we're to play a word association game. 00:11:00.319 --> 00:11:03.519 You're not going to think feeding trough, you're going to think nativity. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:05.639 You're going to think of Jesus. 00:11:05.639 --> 00:11:10.559 After the word manger itself is actually dignified and lifted up because it came into contact 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:12.639 with the Christ. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:18.559 I think that's very important because when the king of glory comes into contact with 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:27.559 that which is lowly, he remains glorious and the lowly are lifted. 00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:33.399 The undignified is given dignity. 00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:42.959 When we come to this Christ with our sin, our shame, our failures, our guilt, those 00:11:42.959 --> 00:11:48.480 things that feel dirty, we don't get him dirty. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:51.879 And he doesn't flinch away from us as if his clothes are nice and clean and he doesn't 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:54.279 want to get a spot on him. 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:55.679 He actually makes us clean. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:58.759 See we're not contagious with sin. 00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:01.840 He's contagious with holiness. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:05.440 He's contagious with purity and power and glory. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:10.200 Like the woman who bled for 12 years and was ritually unclean. 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:14.440 The way they thought of it, the way they were taught is that when unclean things come in 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:18.960 contact with clean things, they both get unclean. 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:22.920 This makes sense if you have a muddy t-shirt and you touch it to another t-shirt that's 00:12:22.920 --> 00:12:25.160 clean now they're both muddy, right? 00:12:25.160 --> 00:12:27.519 That's not true of Christ. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:28.960 It's exactly the opposite. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:35.480 When she touched him, instead of him getting unclean, she got clean. 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:45.080 Christ is contagious with holiness, which means you can trust him with whatever you've 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:50.340 got way deep down that you don't think you can trust to anybody. 00:12:50.340 --> 00:12:57.200 You can give it to Jesus and he'll clean you. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:03.800 Not only was Jesus' birth into this world humble, that same humility and meekness, it 00:13:03.800 --> 00:13:10.360 marked his earthly ministry and it marks his heart still to this day. 00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:12.240 We're not talking about an historical figure. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:16.680 We're talking about a man with a heartbeat sitting at the right hand of the Father in 00:13:16.680 --> 00:13:20.120 heaven who will come back. 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:22.759 And here is what he said, this is in Matthew 11. 00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:25.200 He said, this is what I'm like. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:31.480 Now there's not many times Jesus says that, but here we have it in scripture. 00:13:31.480 --> 00:13:35.680 Jesus says, here's what I'm like and this is still true of him today. 00:13:35.680 --> 00:13:45.600 He said, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:54.240 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:58.360 find rest for your souls. 00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:02.759 That's what Jesus is like right now. 00:14:02.759 --> 00:14:07.120 Nothing is too low, the King of glory. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:10.740 No one is beneath his notice. 00:14:10.740 --> 00:14:17.480 There is no sin that you can commit that's so vile that it would make Jesus turn his 00:14:17.480 --> 00:14:20.399 nose up at you. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:22.159 He's safe. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:27.039 He's safe because he's humble. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:30.199 Why else would he be born in a manger? 00:14:30.199 --> 00:14:38.120 Why else would he send his heavenly fanfare to shepherds if not to say, blessed are the 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:39.679 poor in spirit. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:44.279 But theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:14:44.279 --> 00:14:48.000 Now I know you have a new king, so this isn't a political statement. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:52.799 It's an historical statement. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:57.000 A prideful king is a dangerous king. 00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:01.159 But a humble king? 00:15:01.159 --> 00:15:04.639 What couldn't you confess to him? 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:13.080 What couldn't you trust him with if he's really that humble and gentle? 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:19.280 The last thing I want to say to you about the humility of Jesus is that godly humility 00:15:19.280 --> 00:15:22.639 is a powerful thing. 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:23.920 Jared Tolkien got it. 00:15:23.920 --> 00:15:29.440 That's why he made a story about little hobbits who turned Middle Earth upside down. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:31.920 The apostle Paul got it. 00:15:31.920 --> 00:15:35.720 That's why when he was afflicted with a thorn in the flesh and asked God three times to 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:42.920 remove it, God said, my grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in weakness. 00:15:42.919 --> 00:15:46.879 Jesus lived it. 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:51.719 That's why if you read Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11, this is the gospel 00:15:51.719 --> 00:15:53.839 presentation in Philippians. 00:15:53.839 --> 00:16:00.519 It's about a Jesus who had all majesty and power and glory equal with God the Father 00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:04.639 himself and he let go of it all. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:09.399 He didn't count it something to be grasped, to be clung onto. 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:14.199 But he humbled himself, taking on the form of a servant. 00:16:14.199 --> 00:16:15.199 That wasn't enough. 00:16:15.199 --> 00:16:20.879 He went lower still and he humbled himself into death. 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:25.439 And death itself was defeated by humility. 00:16:25.439 --> 00:16:28.439 Godly humility is a powerful thing. 00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:39.840 Satan in all his pride and pomp was laid low by the king who came to be conquered. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:43.440 That power of humility, it explains how a feeding trough could hold the creator of the 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:49.280 universe and how a Roman execution rack 33 years later could become a throne that we 00:16:49.280 --> 00:16:52.480 revere still to this day. 00:16:52.480 --> 00:17:04.839 Therefore, there is tremendous hope for prideful souls like me and like you. 00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:07.740 But our hope is not in self-help. 00:17:07.740 --> 00:17:14.839 Our hope is not in political victories, social agendas, institutional reform, therapy. 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:19.079 Our hope is in this humble savior. 00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:24.919 And in receiving him in the humility of faith. 00:17:24.919 --> 00:17:30.199 This sort of invasion of heaven onto the battlefield of earth, it began with humility. 00:17:30.199 --> 00:17:35.559 This world was conquered by a boy born to be conquered. 00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:38.259 And his power was in his weakness. 00:17:38.259 --> 00:17:41.279 His glory was in his humility. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:46.879 Why would it be any different for me and you? 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:55.760 To receive Jesus, to be transformed by Jesus, to be saved by this king, we have to let go 00:17:55.760 --> 00:17:59.560 of our pride. 00:17:59.560 --> 00:18:02.920 Faith is just another sort of aspect on humility. 00:18:02.920 --> 00:18:09.280 We let go, we open our hands instead of clinging to what we have and we receive instead of 00:18:09.280 --> 00:18:11.900 trying to earn or take. 00:18:11.900 --> 00:18:17.280 We just need to receive the work of Christ. 00:18:17.280 --> 00:18:19.320 That's point number one, the humility of the king. 00:18:19.320 --> 00:18:24.360 Point number two, slightly briefer, the promise of peace. 00:18:24.360 --> 00:18:31.160 So ever since Adam in Genesis three bit into that fruit and sinned against God, we've been 00:18:31.160 --> 00:18:33.160 at war. 00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:37.400 At war with God and then at war with each other as well. 00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:45.560 We've set up a little kingdom of our world in rebellion against our rightful king. 00:18:45.560 --> 00:18:52.040 And we make ourselves little kings and we orient our whole lives around our comfort, 00:18:52.040 --> 00:18:57.360 my comfort, around my good, around my desires. 00:18:57.360 --> 00:19:00.480 It's pride and it's war. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:06.960 So the angels, this army shows up in Luke two to announce that the king is here, sort 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:11.600 of dropped behind enemy lines as it were, like an invasion. 00:19:11.600 --> 00:19:15.400 And his kingdom was being established. 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:21.640 Now that could be really good news or really bad news when a terrifying army of angels 00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:24.559 shows up. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:28.519 It'd be reasonable to think I'm in trouble. 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:33.559 But he's making a promise which shows that this is the best news in the world. 00:19:33.559 --> 00:19:38.240 Because every king, every emperor who conquers a new territory, they make promises to the 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:39.240 people. 00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:43.720 It's sort of, they set up expectations of what things are going to be like. 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:48.000 And then they're at the end of their term, if it's an elected office, they're held up 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:49.980 against the promises they made, aren't they? 00:19:49.980 --> 00:19:53.639 Did they fulfill what they said they would? 00:19:53.639 --> 00:19:59.159 Caesar Augustus promised the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:06.040 A peace achieved by oppression and violence. 00:20:06.040 --> 00:20:09.840 And it lasted for some time, two centuries. 00:20:09.840 --> 00:20:15.400 In 1928, US presidential candidate Herbert Hoover, when he was running for office, promised 00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:20.560 a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage. 00:20:20.560 --> 00:20:22.920 That one didn't hold up. 00:20:22.920 --> 00:20:31.680 Boris Johnson promised what, NHS funding, tougher sentencing on criminals, more police. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:32.960 I don't know, you tell me. 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:34.080 I don't know. 00:20:34.080 --> 00:20:38.560 And I don't know who your current PM is anymore, so I can't go on from there. 00:20:38.560 --> 00:20:47.279 But this conquering king, Jesus, the Christ, makes a better promise and kept it by his 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:49.240 own blood. 00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:52.320 He didn't keep his promise off the backs of other people. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:56.799 He did it himself, and he paid for it dearly. 00:20:56.799 --> 00:20:59.359 Here's the promise. 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:08.000 Peace on earth, among those with whom his favor rests. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:12.559 Peace, not the absence of conflict. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:14.439 That's not peace. 00:21:14.439 --> 00:21:16.599 That's false peace. 00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:23.359 Real peace, biblical peace, is a wholeness, a sort of surging vitality of being a real, 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:28.639 complete, whole, healthy, vibrant person. 00:21:28.639 --> 00:21:31.319 That kind of peace. 00:21:31.319 --> 00:21:38.319 We don't know that kind of peace at all, this world. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:44.439 We may get along with our neighbors, okay, surface level, but we know little of peace 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:50.400 with God, the peace that counts more than anything. 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:54.840 When Adam and Eve committed the sin, the first thing they did was they hid from each other 00:21:54.840 --> 00:21:57.360 and they hid from God. 00:21:57.360 --> 00:22:04.920 We haven't stopped hiding ever since then, from each other and from God. 00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:12.360 We think the worst thing that could possibly happen is to be seen for who we really are. 00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:23.240 This is a promise of a king who can see you for you, the real you, and actually love you, 00:22:23.240 --> 00:22:29.159 actually love me, who to thought. 00:22:29.159 --> 00:22:38.039 But since that first time hiding from God, we've avoided his gaze ever since. 00:22:38.039 --> 00:22:44.440 And that hasn't changed for any of us, unless Jesus has conquered your heart with faith, 00:22:44.440 --> 00:22:47.000 humility, and peace. 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:53.639 So imagine the Lord descending today, Jesus coming down in all his glory, no manger this 00:22:53.639 --> 00:22:55.000 time. 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.240 When he comes back, it's going to be all trumpets in glory. 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:06.759 Imagine he comes down and you're standing before him, like you, me standing before Jesus 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:12.640 himself, seen way deep down. 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:17.400 I wonder, could you look him in the eye? 00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:19.200 Could you meet his gaze? 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:25.440 Because what the angels are singing about, what the military of heaven has come to announce 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:31.599 is the kind of peace that would allow lingering eye contact with the creator of the universe. 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:34.279 Can you even imagine? 00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:40.399 The peace of intimacy and reconciliation and wholeness. 00:23:40.399 --> 00:23:47.399 If you could feel absolutely at peace with God, nothing between you, you and the eternal 00:23:47.399 --> 00:23:51.440 God, what couldn't you face into on this earth? 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:55.279 What suffering couldn't you handle? 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:59.000 What temptation couldn't you overcome? 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:09.680 If you had the smile of God Almighty, I bet you'd sleep really well at nights. 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:15.839 The good news of Christmas is the promise of that kind of peace. 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:22.640 The caveat, however, because there is a caveat, it comes in the final words of verse 14, peace 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:28.160 on earth among those with whom he is pleased. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:32.800 So the real question is, who is God pleased with? 00:24:32.800 --> 00:24:36.840 Or rather, how can I get the pleasure of God on me? 00:24:36.840 --> 00:24:40.160 How can I please God? 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:43.080 Well, we might try legalism, right? 00:24:43.080 --> 00:24:50.519 A work better, try harder, pull yourself up by the bootstraps kind of moralism, where 00:24:50.519 --> 00:24:53.800 it's all about rules and earning God's favor. 00:24:53.799 --> 00:25:00.119 And then maybe if we're good enough, if we just avoid sin enough, maybe God will be happy 00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:03.159 with us. 00:25:03.159 --> 00:25:08.799 Or we could try a sort of optimistic ambivalence, where I just sort of stuff down my conscience 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:14.639 and compartmentalize the guilt, you know, that feeling, and then I'll just hope for 00:25:14.639 --> 00:25:16.919 the best. 00:25:16.919 --> 00:25:18.839 I'm sure it'll all be fine in the end. 00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:23.119 I'll just sweep that under the rug. 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:27.319 Or we could try the gospel third way, the better way. 00:25:27.319 --> 00:25:35.459 The thing is, God's favor rests unflinchingly on one man. 00:25:35.459 --> 00:25:38.239 Only one man is perfectly righteous. 00:25:38.239 --> 00:25:44.839 Only one man obeys the Father's will perfectly. 00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:53.480 But this man, thankfully, he's kind of like Noah's Ark, that you can climb into and be 00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:56.439 saved. 00:25:56.439 --> 00:26:05.399 Jesus is this unique person that you can be in. 00:26:05.399 --> 00:26:09.720 I don't have illustrations for it because it's too weird. 00:26:09.720 --> 00:26:12.740 There's nothing else like it in the universe. 00:26:12.740 --> 00:26:17.880 But over a hundred times, Paul says in the New Testament, that if you have put your faith 00:26:17.880 --> 00:26:26.400 in Christ, if you've leaned on Him with all your weight, you are in Christ. 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:28.680 None of you are in the King. 00:26:28.680 --> 00:26:31.480 I am not in President Biden. 00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:36.160 That's not how governmental relationships on earth work, but it's how this relationship 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:38.880 with the King of the universe works. 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:44.440 You believe on Him and you get in Him. 00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:49.480 And God's smile, the favor of God rests on Him. 00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:57.120 So if you're part of His body, the body of Christ, then you too have the favor of God. 00:26:57.120 --> 00:27:01.920 Paul put it this way in one of the best verses of the Bible, Romans 8.1. 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:09.759 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:14.360 That's the only place in the universe where there is no condemnation, because all have 00:27:14.360 --> 00:27:18.000 sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:19.000 John put it a different way. 00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:21.200 He thought more about children and adoption. 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:27.960 John said, to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the 00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:34.160 right to become children of God, to be a part of the family of the King. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:40.200 In other words, the peace of God and peace with God, it can only come through faith in 00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:41.360 Jesus. 00:27:41.360 --> 00:27:49.400 You cannot earn this peace and you can't ignore the conflict long enough for it to go away. 00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:53.360 Only faith in Jesus will get you peace, the sleep of the righteous who has nothing to 00:27:53.359 --> 00:28:02.279 fear, the kind of eye contact that only integrity can bring, the pleasant rich joy that no sin 00:28:02.279 --> 00:28:04.599 or sorrow can touch. 00:28:04.599 --> 00:28:13.639 That kind of peace is the promise that Jesus came to bring to you and to me. 00:28:13.640 --> 00:28:26.880 So if you feel broken, dirty, riddled with shame, exhausted by hiding, sort of beaten 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:33.440 down by the suffering of this world, by rubbing shoulders with all this sadness and tired 00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:43.480 of the death, all of those things, there is one person you can turn to for help. 00:28:43.480 --> 00:28:51.799 For deliverance, for saving, because heaven has invaded this war-torn world in our weary 00:28:51.799 --> 00:28:57.920 hearts with the humility of the King and the promise of peace. 00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:04.559 The kingdom of heaven colliding with the darkness of this world to bring it into the light 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:06.480 and make it whole. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:11.680 So it's sort of a cosmic invasion, but it's not just abstract and cosmic and out there. 00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:15.600 It's also, it's personal. 00:29:15.600 --> 00:29:21.039 It's actually for you, so I urge you now. 00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:28.320 If you have not yet been conquered by the King of Peace, what else are you trusting 00:29:28.320 --> 00:29:30.840 in? 00:29:30.840 --> 00:29:37.960 We all trust in something or someone to save us, to make us okay. 00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:41.960 You all trust in something for your wholeness. 00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:46.680 Is it safer than humble Jesus? 00:29:46.680 --> 00:29:52.840 Is it more powerful and able to save you than mighty Jesus? 00:29:52.840 --> 00:30:01.559 And will it keep its promises? 00:30:01.559 --> 00:30:07.920 All you have to do for the kind of peace we've been talking about is lay down your arms. 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:10.000 Stop fighting. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:11.600 Stop resisting Him. 00:30:11.600 --> 00:30:15.720 He's too good to resist. 00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:18.080 He wins you with love. 00:30:18.080 --> 00:30:20.480 What could be better? 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:25.920 He died for you to prove it. 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:27.720 And He wants to give you His peace. 00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:32.840 Jesus Himself said, John 14.27, Peace, I leave with you. 00:30:32.840 --> 00:30:35.880 My peace I give to you. 00:30:35.880 --> 00:30:38.280 What a profound statement. 00:30:38.280 --> 00:30:45.040 The Son of God has perfect peace with the Father, and He says, my peace I give to you. 00:30:45.040 --> 00:30:48.160 Not as the world gives, do I give. 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:50.520 Let not your hearts be troubled. 00:30:50.520 --> 00:30:54.880 Neither let them be afraid. 00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:57.960 Don't you want that? 00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:06.160 I'd like to end with the words that we often use to open our service at Christ Church. 00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:11.279 To all who are weary and need rest. 00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:15.319 To all who fail and desire strength. 00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:20.039 And to all who sin and need a Savior. 00:31:20.039 --> 00:31:30.359 Jesus, the humble King of peace, opens wide His arms with a blood-bought welcome. 00:31:30.359 --> 00:31:35.720 He's the friend of sinners, and He's gentle and humble. 00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:39.240 Welcome. 00:31:39.240 --> 00:31:43.039 Let me pray. 00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:50.279 Lord Jesus, we praise you for what you're like. 00:31:50.279 --> 00:31:52.359 You're amazing. 00:31:52.359 --> 00:31:54.680 You're so kind and mighty. 00:31:54.680 --> 00:31:58.440 If you were kind and weak, we would have no salvation. 00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:02.519 And if you were mighty and unkind, we'd be terrified all the time. 00:32:02.519 --> 00:32:06.639 But you're good and powerful. 00:32:06.639 --> 00:32:09.399 You're glorious, and we praise you, and we love you. 00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:14.440 Help us to love you more and to follow you and to trust you. 00:32:14.440 --> 00:32:20.480 And when we have trusted you, would you give us that spiritual wisdom to look back and say, 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:23.440 God did that, not me? 00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:28.200 I've been reborn by the Spirit. 00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:31.040 Would you do that in our hearts today? 00:32:31.040 --> 00:32:34.080 For your glory and for our joy. 00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:40.079 Amen.