The scripture for today comes from Matthew chapter 2.
Starting in verse 1, we read,
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king,
behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,
saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?
For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people,
he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet,
And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.
For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.
Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly,
and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.
And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying,
Go and search diligently for the child,
and when you have found him, bring me word,
that I too may come and worship him.
After listening to the king, they went on their way.
And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them,
until it came to rest over the place where the child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother,
and they fell down and worshipped him.
Then opening the treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they departed to their own country by another way.
This is the word of God.
Great. Thank you, Annabelle.
Well, let's pray together as we come to the passage.
Heavenly Jesus Christ,
this morning we want to see you.
We want to see something of your majesty and your glory,
but also your tenderness, your humility and your lowliness.
God, I pray that in this scripture,
and as we reflect on this hymn that we sang earlier,
that God, we will be drawn like these magi to once again,
we will be wise men and wise women of the 21st century,
to fall on our knees and to worship and adore you.
God, we pray, won't you open the eyes of our hearts
to come and see you for who you really are.
God, come and help us to see who you are,
who we are in light of you,
and help us, God, to align our lives with you, we pray.
In your wonderful and gracious name, amen.
Well, it's good to be back with you.
I was away the last few weeks,
and so it's great to be back.
And it's great to be doing this series
that Niels has kicked off the last two weeks,
Let Heaven and Nature Sing.
I hope you've joined us the last few weeks
as we've been looking at these wonderful Christmas carols.
Now, last week, Niels told you the story.
I don't know if you heard of how he became a Christian,
I think in his early 20s,
and suddenly these Christmas carols
that he had known and sang all his life
took on a whole new meaning
in light of becoming a follower of Jesus.
Well, my story is actually quite similar,
except it's quite different in another way.
I, too, in my early 20s,
discovered these Christmas carols
in a whole way that they became meaningful to me
in a way that they hadn't been before,
except the difference is I wasn't a Christian
that became a Christian.
I was a pastor that discovered the gospel.
And I know that sounds strange,
but I was a pastor in my young 20s.
I was a very bad pastor.
I was a very weak Christian,
a very immature Christian.
I don't know why anybody let me be a pastor,
but somebody did.
And I thought that I loved and trusted Jesus,
but actually I loved and trusted myself,
which meant that I was very self-righteous,
I was very self-opinionated.
And around this time,
God very graciously started to show me
the wonder of the gospel and the wonder of Jesus.
I started to get a glimpse of the depth of my sinfulness
and my self-righteousness,
of how amazing Christ was and the gospel was.
And I started to fall in love with Jesus,
which is a good thing for a pastor to do.
But around this time,
a friend of mine was planting a church
in Cape Town, South Africa,
where we were living.
And I thought I would be a good friend.
Their church had an outreach at Christmas time.
They had a carol service.
And I thought I'd be a good friend.
And so I went to this carol service
to go and support him.
His name is Stephen Murray.
The church is called Hope City.
And I sat through this carol service,
having kind of freshly understood Jesus and the gospel,
and I just cried my way through the service
as we sang these amazing songs
of Jesus and his incredible love for us.
And I remember I went home and I did two things.
I took the bulletin from that service
and I kept it on my desk for about two years.
For about two years,
I paged through the bulletin every now and then
and just reflect on these words.
And the other thing I did
is I went to iTunes Music Store.
Do you remember that?
Before the days of Spotify.
And I downloaded a whole lot of Christmas carols
and I burnt CDs for my mother-in-law
and all family members
and said,
you've got to listen to these carols.
They're amazing.
My point is that
Niels found the gospel
and these Christmas carols came alive.
As a non-Christian,
I as a pastor found the gospel
and these Christmas carols came alive.
And for both of us,
and our hope for you,
is that these carols,
they become anthems of grace
as we discover Jesus
in the story of Christmas once again.
Now, as a side note,
that's one of the reasons
why as a church,
we are always talking about Jesus
and the gospel.
Because whether you're a Christian
or you're not a Christian,
we all need to find the grace of God
in the person of Jesus.
And so we're constantly going on
about Jesus and the gospel.
Well, two weeks ago,
Niels kicked off with
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
And last week,
we looked at Hark,
the Herald Angels,
saying,
this morning,
we're going to look at this carol,
O Come, All Ye Faithful.
And if you've got your bulletin,
you want to open it up,
you've got the words of the carol there
in front of us
and the words of our scripture reading
in the insert.
I want to encourage you
to have this open
as we look at these words together
this morning.
Now, this carol,
Come, All Ye Faithful,
it's a wonderful Christmas carol.
It's got wonderful truths in it.
It's a song that calls us
to join with countless men and women
from years gone by
and to come and worship
and adore Christ.
It's a song that calls us
to ponder the gospel message,
to reflect on who Jesus is,
to contemplate Christmas.
But really, at its heart,
what it does is it calls us
to worship Him.
It's a song that calls us
not just to sing,
but to truly adore Him.
And one of the things
that's interesting about this hymn
is that it's not directed to God.
You know, most of the songs
that we sing,
we sing directly to God
or about Him.
But actually, most of this hymn,
we are singing to ourselves.
Now, that might sound strange,
but that's something that the Psalms
sometimes encourage us to do.
Remember Psalm 42,
Why are you downcast,
O my soul?
Why are you in such turmoil within me?
Hope in God.
And this song follows on from that
and it's a song to speak
to our own hearts.
Martin Lloyd-Jones very famously said,
one of our problems in life
is that we listen to our hearts
more than we speak to our hearts.
And so this song calls us,
maybe you've had a difficult year,
you've had a difficult season.
And in a way, the song says,
Kevin, cold heart,
come, come to God.
Come and worship and adore Him.
It's a song to speak to our own hearts.
But it's also a song that
we speak to one another.
It's a song that when you come to church
and maybe you really don't feel
like coming to church,
maybe you feel a bit distant from God,
or like I said,
maybe it's been a really tough season.
And as you come and you hear
the worship and the praises
of those around you,
it calls us to worship God
and to adore Him together.
It's one of the great problems
of online church, right?
When you're sitting at home
with just you and your coffee mug
and you're struggling to worship.
Oh, and you come and you gather
with the saints.
Then you hear the saints singing,
come, come, let us adore Him.
Let us worship Him,
Christ the Lord.
It's also a song that calls,
it's also a song that calls us
to slow down.
Look at the second,
or the third line of the song.
It says,
come and behold Him.
The word behold is a,
it's a funny word,
it's a very Christian word.
It's not quite as funny as hark, right?
Hark is not the word,
the sound that angels make,
as Niels reminded us last week.
But behold is a strange word.
It's a word we don't use often
in English these days.
But behold really means
to slow down,
to contemplate,
and to ponder something.
It means to take the time
to really think deeply
about what is before you.
One of the problems with our age
is we're such a fast-paced world.
We've got so much data
and information flying at us
all the time
that we don't know how to slow down.
Someone says that culturally
we have a cultural ADHD
as a society.
We're just fast-paced all the time.
I don't know if you've ever
traveled somewhere.
Maybe you do a weekend trip
to Tokyo or Shanghai,
or maybe you're on a business trip
to Europe
and you've got one extra day
and so you want to go see Paris.
You've never been to Paris
and you've got to go.
And so you've got one day there
and you fly through Paris.
You do the Eiffel Tower
and you do the Louvre
and you take selfies
at the Eiffel Tower
and then you're in front
of the Mona Lisa.
I don't know if you're allowed
to take photos
in front of the Mona Lisa.
Are you allowed to,
Florence?
Yes?
Okay.
So you fly through all the sites
and you tick off
all your bucket list
but you've never actually
contemplated.
You've never beheld it.
I don't know if that's a word.
Beheld, is that a word?
You've never had a chance
to really contemplate
what is before you.
Here this psalm,
this hymn
calls us to slow down,
to behold Jesus.
To think about who it is
that we sing
and we worship.
It's one of the great things
about the Advent season,
about Christmas being
more than just a weekend.
If you've joined us
in this Advent season,
it's taking a month
to really slow down
and think about
and behold Him.
And when we do that,
when we see who Christ is,
we hear the angels,
we hear the shepherds
and the wise men
of ages go by
beckoning us
to come and worship
and adore Him.
But of course,
really what this song
is doing,
O come all ye faithful,
it's reenacting
the spiritual journey
of the very first
worshipers of Jesus.
I don't know if you
picked it up
in the scripture reading
that Annabelle did
for us this morning.
three times
in our scripture reading
it talks about
come let us worship Him.
In Matthew chapter 2,
if you've got the bulletin,
look at it,
look at verse 2.
The magi,
the wise men,
they come to Herod
in Jerusalem
and they say,
where is He
who has been born
King of the Jews?
We saw His star
when it rose
and we have come
to worship Him.
Come to worship Him.
That's what the song
is calling us to do,
to follow the footsteps
of the first
worshipers of Jesus,
the shepherds
and the magi
and to come
and worship
Christ the Lord.
And look at what happens
in verse 11
when they find Him.
It says,
going into the house
they saw the child
with Mary His mother
and what did they do?
They fell down
on their knees
and they worshipped Him.
They worshipped Him.
The song beckons us,
people of every nation
and culture,
ethnicity,
language,
tribe and tongue,
come.
Come let us worship
and adore Christ the Lord.
Now,
before we look into
what that means,
look at a couple
of other responses.
What are the other responses
we could have?
Well,
firstly,
notice Herod's response
to the words
of these magi.
what is Herod's response?
It's hostility,
right?
This passage
is famously referred to
as the passage
of the three kings,
right?
Because we've got
these three magi
that travel from the east.
It's a very bad description
because,
firstly,
we don't know
how many kings
there really were.
We just assume
there were three kings
because of the three gifts
that are mentioned,
gold and frankincense
and myrrh.
There could have been
two kings,
there could have been
17 magi,
we don't really know.
But the other problem
is they probably
weren't kings at all.
They were astrologers,
they were philosophers,
they were wise men
from the east,
probably from Babylon.
But here are some magi
and they come
and,
but really,
what this passage is,
is the tale
of two kings.
It's the tale
of King Herod
and the tale
of King Jesus.
And here you have
Christ the king
born and the wise men,
the magi,
they come
and they say,
we have come
from afar,
where is he
who is born
king of the Jews?
And what is Herod's response?
Anger,
hostility,
rage.
Look at verse 3,
it says,
when Herod heard,
Herod the king
heard this,
he was troubled.
It's one of
Matthew's
great understatements.
Herod wasn't
just troubled,
he was terrified.
Because here is somebody
who is going to
threaten his rule,
his claim
to the throne.
Herod has
worked hard
to eliminate
all the enemies.
He's on the throne.
He killed
one of his brothers.
Herod is
clearly on the throne
and here is somebody
who claims
to be on the throne.
Herod is
hostile
to Jesus.
Because Herod
grasped
what is at stake
if Jesus
really is the king.
If Jesus
is who he said he is
or who the magi
proclaimed him
to be,
it means he
needs to be
dethroned.
And friends,
for us,
we can feel the same.
Jesus comes
and he says,
I am heaven
and earth's
true king.
Come and
adore me.
Come and
worship me.
Do you know
what that means?
It means we are
not on the throne
of our lives
anymore.
It means Christ
comes and asks us
to step off
the throne
to worship
and adore him.
But notice
the other
response here
is the religious
leaders.
How do they
respond?
Look at 2 verse 4
with me.
It says,
And assembling
all the chief
priests and the
scribes of the
people,
Herod inquired
from there,
Where is the
Christ to be
born?
And they told
him,
In Bethlehem of
Judea,
for so it is
written by the
prophets.
And you,
O Bethlehem,
the land of
Judah,
from you shall
come a ruler,
who will
shepherd my
people.
Here are the
very brightest
and the very
best of the
biblical scholars.
They don't even
need to go and
search the
scriptures.
They know the
scriptures.
Herod comes to
him and says,
Listen,
there's some
guys telling us
that the
Christ has
been born.
Where should
we find him?
And immediately
they rattle off
in Bethlehem.
So said
Micah the
prophet.
Here are the
very best
scholars.
They know
their Bible.
They're standing
before them
astrologers and
philosophers who
have told them
where the
Christ is.
And what do
they do?
They give the
answer and
then they go
back to their
books.
They go back to
their life as if
nothing has
happened.
The hostility of
Herod and the
indifference of the
wise leaders,
Christmas means
nothing to
them.
And friends,
for how much of
us is that,
are we similar?
we come,
we worship,
we sing the
songs,
we have the
great Christmas
feast,
we cut open
the turkey,
we open some
presents,
we come to
church on
Christmas Day,
but the day
following,
life goes back
to normal as
if nothing has
changed.
And Christmas
calls us to
handle life
differently.
Christmas calls
us to get on
our knees to
proclaim Christ
as the Lord.
Friends,
let's not be
like the
religious leaders
of Herod's
day,
who sing the
songs and do
the advent
calendars and
put up the
Christmas tree
and yet do
nothing about
Jesus.
Oh friends,
let's join the
wise men of
old and wise
women of old
who do what
Herod should
have done but
was too
insecure to do.
Who do what
the religious
leaders should
have done but
were too
indifferent to do.
Let's come
and worship
and adore
Him this
year.
Friends,
maybe you've
known about
Jesus all your
life.
You know the
Christmas carols,
you know the
Christmas story.
Friends,
have you ever
gotten on your
knees and
worshipped Him
and adored Him?
Have you ever
proclaimed Him
as Lord and
King of your
life and your
heart?
This Christmas
treat Jesus
differently.
Come and
worship and
adore Him.
Well, how do
we do that?
What does that
look like?
Well, let's
look at what
the wise men
do.
Look at what
they do in
our passage
here.
They come and
they find Him.
Verse 11,
it says,
they're going to
their house.
They saw the
child with
Mary, his
mother, and
they fell down
and they
worshipped Him.
The first thing
they do is they
get on their
knees.
They get on
their knees.
What does it
mean to get on
our knees before
King Jesus in
21st century
Hong Kong?
It means to
acknowledge that
Christ is the
King, that
Christ is the
Lord.
It's proclaiming
Him not just
as a wise
man, not
just as a
sage, not
just as a
prophet of
ages ago, but
to declare
Him our
King, our
Lord.
Christmas
reminds us
that Jesus
has the right
to tell us
what to do
with our
lives.
Jesus has
the right to
tell us what
to think, how
to behave, what
to do, because
Christ is the
King.
He is the
Lord.
He is the
one true
King that
gets to
direct our
lives.
Christmas
reminds us
not just of
Jesus'
lowliness and
His gentleness,
but of His
majesty and
His sovereignty
of His
Lordship.
Because here
before this
lowly King,
these three
Magi from
the East
bow down
lower still.
They proclaim
Christ the
King.
They get on
their knees.
But the
second thing
they do is
they offer
Him their
treasures.
Bowing down
before Him,
it says,
they opened
up their
treasures and
they offered
Him gifts
of gold and
frankincense and
myrrh.
And why do
they offer
these things?
Well, gold is
a gift for
kings,
proclaiming
Christ the
King.
Frankincense
was something
that was often
used in the
temple for
priests and
their priestly
service,
proclaiming
Christ as
the mediator
between God
and man.
Myrrh, we
find out later
on in the
Gospels, when
Jesus is being
buried, was
sometimes an
ointment, a
spice that
was given
at people's
burial.
And so here
the Holy
Spirit is
telling us,
they're proclaiming
who Christ
is, He's
the King,
what He's
going to do,
He's going to
mediate between
God and man,
and His destiny,
He's to die
on the cross.
But of course,
that wasn't what
the wise men
imagined.
They just came
and they opened
up their
treasures and
said,
Jesus, all
that we have,
all that we
are, belongs
to you, have
your way in
our life.
Friends, what
would it look
like for this
Christmas, for
us to get on
our knees and
say, Jesus,
everything I
have, everything
that I am, come
and have your
way.
In my work, with
my money, with
my relationships,
with my sexuality,
and my dreams,
and my ambitions,
Jesus, here are
the deepest
desires in the
lungs of my
heart, my hopes
and my fears,
Jesus, here they
are, I lay them
at your feet.
Come, come let
us worship and
adore Him, Christ
the Lord.
Really, what this
song is about, it's
reminding us what
Christmas is all
about.
It's so easy for
Christmas to be
taken over with
the gathering,
and the food,
and the
decorations, and
the carols
playing at home,
and our holiday
plans.
And yet, what
Christmas is all
about, it's about
Jesus Christ,
heaven and earth's
true King.
Come, come let
us worship and
adore Him.
Come let us get
on our knees, let's
open up the
treasures of our
hearts, let's say
Jesus, come and
have your way.
And why should we
do that?
Why should we
trust Him?
Well, look again
at our hymn that
we have in front
of us.
Because of who
Jesus is, look at
the second verse
Jeremy led us in
singing it this
morning, it's not
often a verse that
we sing, but
historically it's
there.
Look at what it
says, God of
God, light of
light, lo he
abhors not the
virgin's womb,
very God, begotten
not created, oh
come, let us adore
Him, Christ the
Lord.
Well, what does
all that language
mean?
Where does it
come from?
It comes from the
Nicene Creed.
The creeds were the
way that in the
ancient days the
church taught the
church theology.
A thousand years
ago not many people
could read, and even
if they could read
people didn't have
their own Bibles,
they were too
expensive.
And so the way the
people, the church
taught people theology
were they came up
with these creeds.
And so this language
is taken from the
creed, it's biblical
theology.
Who is Jesus?
He is God of
gods, very God.
Not just a great
prophet, not just a
wise man, the wisest
man that ever lived,
that's true, but more
than that, not just a
great moral teacher.
Everything that we
know about God is
found in Jesus
Christ.
He is the eternal
uncreated one.
A hundred trillion
years ago, here was
Jesus on the throne
of the universe, God
of gods.
He is forgotten, not
created.
Forgotten means he
is eternally
submissive to God
the Father, he
honors God the
Father, and yet
never was there a
point where he was
brought into existence.
Eternally uncreated
one.
Jesus is the
uncaused cause of
everything that exists.
God of gods.
So think about
that.
Everything that
exists has a
beginning and has a
cause that brings
that thing into
being.
And that thing has a
cause, and that
thing has a cause,
and that thing, and
ultimately you go back
a trillion years,
Jesus Christ is the
uncaused cause of
everything that exists.
He is God of gods.
He is light of
light.
He is the one who
brought light into
the world, light out
of nothing.
This is Jesus.
And yet, lo, that
means but, lo, he
abhors not the
virgin's womb.
It means as
glorious and as
majestic as he is,
he is not too
proud to come and
take on the form of
human nature, to be
born a baby, to be
weak and dependent
upon his mother,
born in the
backwaters of
Bethlehem, laying
in an animal's
feeding trough.
Here is Jesus,
majestic and yet
meek, awesome and
yet humble, born to
a virgin in the
backwaters of
Bethlehem.
And yet, friends,
don't let his
humility and his
meekness crowd out
his majesty and his
awesomeness.
Don't let the
lambs and the
sheep and the
fluffy will and the
fairy lights crowd
out his majesty.
Here is Jesus, God
of God, the light
of light, begotten,
not created, the
eternal sovereign God
of all creation.
Oh, come.
Come, let us adore
him.
Friends, this
Christmas, whatever
else you do, whether
you travel, whether you
have amazing meals,
whether you put on
the turkey, whether
you have tons of
friends over to your
house, the one
thing, let's do this
Christmas.
Come.
Come, let us adore
him.
Come, let us worship
him.
Come, let us join in
the wise men and
wise women of ages
come past.
Let's get on our
knees.
Let's open the
treasure chest of our
hearts.
Let's say, Jesus,
come and have your
way in my life.
Friends, if Christmas
is to be anything
significant, anything
more than just a
festival, more than
eating too much food
and spending too much
money, here is the
solution, to come to
Jesus Christ and to
worship and adore
him.
Friends, if you want
to find out what
Christmas is all
about, join the
faithful saints of
old.
Come, worship and
adore him.
Come, come, let us
worship him.
Come and behold him,
the king of angels.
Come, let us adore
him.
This is what this
song is all about.
But there is one
thing about this
song which is a
little bit troubling
to me and possibly
to you as well.
It is a great hymn.
It is a wonderful hymn
that we should sing.
But there is one
part that troubles me
and maybe it troubles
you as well.
It is the very first
line and the second
line.
Look at it with me.
It says,
Oh, come all you
faithful, joyful and
triumphant.
It's a wonderful
description of maybe
how we should approach
Christmas.
And yet, if we're
honest, how many of us
really resonate with
that?
Maybe here this morning
and you, as I said,
you've gone through a
difficult time.
Maybe it's been a
really hard year for you
this year.
And you feel like
there's one thing that
I'm not this morning.
It's triumphant, joyful.
Maybe, friends, you
don't feel very faithful
this year.
Maybe you've tried to
hold on to Jesus.
You've been buffeted by
the winds and the waves
and you feel like if
there's one thing that
I'm not, it's faithful.
Friends, come all you
faithful, joyful and
triumphant.
It's what we should be,
but it's not what we
always are.
How many of us could
be said, Monday to
Friday, at work, at
home, at university,
the deepest concerns of
our hearts are to long
to adore and worship
Him.
And what about the
final stanza?
Ye, Lord, we greet
you.
Born this happy
morning.
Yeah, that's wonderful
promise to what
Christmas is.
But, friends, if we
are honest, some of us
Christmas is not all
that happy.
Friends, for some of us
maybe you've lost a
loved one.
And as you come to
Christmas Day and the
build up to Christmas,
actually maybe your
heart is more carrying
grief or mourning as
you think about the
loss of maybe a
father, a brother, a
grandmother, a
daughter.
Maybe the anticipation
of Christmas is not so
joyful and rosy.
It's actually, it's a
time of sadness and
grief in your heart.
Friends, maybe you
carry deep shame for
something that's
happened and Christmas
reminds you of your
unfaithfulness.
And so, if you're a
follower of Jesus, we
carry this tension in
our hearts because, yes,
we want to come and
worship and adore Him.
That's where life is
found.
And yet there's this
trepidation because,
are we worthy?
Will Jesus really
accept us?
I mean, maybe, okay,
Neil, yes, sure, I can
understand that.
Jesus would accept
Him, okay, Justin,
Annabelle, sure, but
me?
God, am I worthy to
come to you this
morning?
And friends, if all
you hear is your
pastor or the worship
leader, Jeremy, saying,
come, all you faithful,
try harder, what
happens?
You feel either
unwelcome and
unwanted or you feel
like a fraud as you
fake your way through
singing the Christmas
carols.
So, is there any hope
for people like us?
Well, a couple of
years ago, a lady
called Lisa Clow,
who is a worship
leader and a singer
at her church, was
feeling the same
tension in her
heart.
She had gone through
a difficult year and
she arrived at church
one day to sing
Christmas carols and
she found herself
unable to sing.
And so, let's
listen to her story as
I read it to her.
She writes this.
She says, I was
struggling.
It had been a long
year and a half.
Finances were very
stressful.
I had miscarried twins
that year.
And on top of it, I
was battling a deep
relational bitterness
with somebody close.
My church was having
their annual Christmas
carol service and I,
for once, was not
singing that year.
I had told my church I
wasn't able to sing,
but what they didn't
know was that I was
too overcome with shame
to stand on the stage
before my church family
that year.
That Sunday morning,
I stood at my seat
as we began to sing,
O come all ye
faithful.
And the very first
line of the song
absolutely clobbered
me.
It hit me like a
giant wave of guilt.
Come all ye
faithful.
Joyful and triumphant.
I remember hearing
those words and
thinking, I have been
so unfaithful.
My joy has dwindled.
I am a triumphant
failure.
I didn't sing for the
rest of the service.
I drove home, my mind
still churning.
Is that really those
who are invited to
Jesus?
The faithful?
The joyful?
The triumphant?
If that's the case,
I am hopeless.
Later that afternoon,
I was reminded of
Jesus' invitation in
Matthew 11.
Come to me, all you
who are weary and
heavy laden.
And I will give you
rest.
Rest.
Rest found in Jesus.
Found in His death.
His resurrection.
Not my death and
resurrection.
That evening, I sat
down to write a song
for the weary, for the
broken, for the
ashamed, for myself.
Friends, I wonder if
you can resonate with
Lisa's sentiment.
Coming to the end of a
difficult year of
exhaustion, weariness.
What do you have to
bring to Jesus this
morning?
Maybe you hear the
words of the Magi that
bring their gifts and
you feel like, Jesus,
all I bring is my
shame, my failure.
I've got nothing to
give.
Jesus, do you even
want me as part of
your family?
The result of that
afternoon was Lisa
wrote a song and it's
on the back of your
insert.
I wonder if you can
turn and look at it
with me and we're
going to sing this
song in a few
minutes time, but I
want to just look at
these words together.
Come, all you
unfaithful.
Come, weak and
unstable.
Come, know that
you are not alone.
Come, barren and
waiting ones, weary
of praying ones.
Come, see what your
God has done.
Christ is born.
Christ is born for
you.
Come, bitter and
broken.
Come with fears
unspoken.
Come, taste of his
perfect love.
Come, guilty and
hiding ones.
There is no need to
run.
See what your God
has done.
Christ is born.
Christ is born for
you.
He is the lamb who
was given, slain for
our pardon.
His promise is our
peace for those who
believe.
So come, though you
have nothing, Christ, he
is our offering.
Come, see what your
God has done.
Christ is born.
Christ is born for
you.
Friends, those of us
that are Christians this
morning recognize this
tension in our hearts,
this call of the
scriptures and the
gospel to come and
worship and adore him,
to bring our entire
lives before him.
And yet, if we're
honest, there's a part
of us that feels, if
I've got to bring my
best, who is worthy?
Well, will Jesus accept
me?
How can I come before
him when all I bring is
my shame, my guilt, my
failure, my unfaithfulness?
Friends, the message of
the Bible and the message
of Christianity is those
that, though we have
failed him, though we
fail to worship and
adore him, he has come to
us.
We don't come to him on
our terms and our
merits, we come to him
because he first came to
us.
And so, though we feel
bitter, and though we
feel broken, and though we
feel weary, and though we
feel exhausted, and though
we feel like we have got
nothing to give, when we
had nothing, Jesus Christ,
the eternal, majestic,
sovereign God, came to us
to bring us to God, to
save us, to reconcile us,
so that we have nothing
Christ came that we
might have him, the one
thing that we need, that we
may come to him.
Weak, unstable, frustrated,
weary, full of tears, shame,
those of us who feel a
triumphant failure, Jesus
has come.
Look at, we sang it
earlier, in the last
stanzas, word of the
Father, now in flesh
appearing.
What does that mean?
The Bible is the word of
God.
It is God's good word of
hope and gospel.
It's his word of grace.
But God did more than
just send us a prophet.
He did more than just
send us the scriptures.
He sent us his son.
The word of God, now in
flesh appearing, to tell
sinners and sufferers, like
you and I, that we are not
hopeless, because God
himself has come to bring us
grace.
Friends, do you feel like a
triumphant failure this
morning?
Christ is born for you.
Friends, do you feel weary
and worn out?
Christ is born for you.
You feel unjoyful, untriumphant.
Christ is born for you.
And friends, just consider
as we come to a close, who
the Bible recalls as the
first worshippers of Jesus.
Shepherds and Magi.
Who were the shepherds?
They were uneducated,
unsophisticated,
unwealthy, the outcasts of
society, the very first
worshippers of Jesus, were
stinky shepherds from the
fields.
And who were the Magi?
Yeah, okay, they were
wealthy, they were
sophisticated, they were
upper class, but they were
Gentile pagan astrologers,
worshippers of the stars.
They came from Babylon.
They were the very people
that the Old Testament,
God's enemies.
And yet God comes to them,
says, come.
Come, worship and adore him.
Do you know what that
means?
It means there is no human
being in all of the world
that is unwelcome,
unwurdened to come and
worship and behold him,
if only we will trust in
Jesus.
And so look at, or think
about the angels' words,
the shepherds out in the
fields, and that's
faithful might.
Behold, I bring you good
news of great joy.
For all people,
religious and rebels,
sinners and sufferers
alike.
For unto you is born
this day, Jesus Christ
the Savior, Christ the
Lord.
And so come.
Friends, this Christmas,
whether you feel worthy
or unworthy, whether you
feel like a failure, or
you feel triumphant
success, this Christmas,
come.
Come worship and adore
him.
Come behold him, Christ
the Lord.
Come.
Come and worship him.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, we marvel God
at the wonder of the
gospel, Lord.
God, it's utterly
astounding when we do
think and ponder who it
is that you invite to come
and worship.
That first Christmas
night, the shepherds.
A few months or years
later, the magi.
And still, God, thousands
of years later, you invite
sinners and sufferers,
unworthy rebels like us.
Those who are anything
but faithful, joyful, and
triumphant.
You call us, invite us
to come to you that we
might find life.
That we might find hope.
That we might find
promise.
Jesus, I pray this Christmas,
God, may we not miss the
call of Advent, the call of
Christmas, to come worship
and adore you and to find
life in your name.
God, I pray especially,
God, for those of us this
morning that feel
unworthy to come to you.
You, God, feel like maybe
this year we've walked away
from you.
You feel this year, God, we
haven't really walked with you.
God, won't you flood us with
your grace and mercy.
Won't you open our eyes to
see you for who you are.
And won't you remind us, God,
of the profound invitation of
Christmas to come and find our
hope that the Savior who is
born, the Savior in the
manger, Christ the Lord.
God, I'm Lord, пока you're
ATM.
Person, God, don't you
really promise to come and
don't you say well, God or
what?
I love you.
What thứ one is.
Basically love is to
H
grace to come and
see you in the
place to come, in
love.
God, pray to
you right, I'll
thank you, God,
for요.
You
and