WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.560 So just for a moment or two, can we look back to Luke chapter 2, the passage we read? 00:00:07.560 --> 00:00:15.759 And just by way of introduction, can you ask you to use your imaginations a little bit? 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:21.160 If you can imagine these verses from verses 1 to 21, like a piece of music, if you can 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:26.199 imagine these verses as a piece of music, then it kind of breaks up quite nicely into 00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:32.320 the rhythm of the passage. Verses 1 to 7, where we have the birth of Jesus, could be 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:39.439 likened to a solo harpist. So it's underplayed and there's not a great amount of instrumentation. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:43.200 In verses 8 to 14, with the coming of the angel and the glory of the Lord, the New Year's 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:50.239 Day, a full orchestra is being revealed there. And then from verses 15 to verse 21, it kind 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:58.840 of calms down a bit, more like a string quartet again. So you're moving from a minimal description 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:06.920 to full, blooded orchestration of the divine work, and then it calms down a little bit. 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:12.200 The orchestra in the middle is really holding this whole section together in a great truth 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:17.159 crescendo, if you could call it that. And we're just going to look at one or two things 00:01:17.159 --> 00:01:22.359 similarly to last week and apply it to our own lives, because we know and we recognize 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:28.840 it's the living word of God for us. So that first section, verses 1 to 7, very briefly 00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:34.799 is the declaration of the birth of Jesus. I'm probably going to focus more on the orchestrated 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:43.400 bit in the middle, the coming of the angel to the shepherds. But that first seven verses 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:49.560 is really just a very ordinary, in many ways, a very ordinary birth narrative. It's very 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:57.000 low key, it's understated. And Dr. Luke, again, as we saw last week, Dr. Luke, the one who 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:07.800 wants to come and declare truth in his kind of medically precise way and give truth to 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:13.800 the people, Dr. Luke, as a doctor describes all the kind of things you would expect that 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:19.240 would be described in a birth announcement. He gives the time of the birth, the place 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:25.240 of the birth. He gives a historical situation in the background of the birth, speaks about 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:29.879 the family and their background, the name of the parents. He declares that it's the 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:35.840 firstborn child. He even gives some kind of details about the clothing that the baby 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:43.920 was wearing, the circumstances, and in the society in which Jesus was born into, it's 00:02:43.920 --> 00:02:52.120 very unremarkable really, in many ways. There's nothing amazing, and all of us, to the degree 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:59.879 that we understand childbirth and the announcements of childbirth, can relate to this. You wouldn't 00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:05.799 read that in any way and think, oh, this is the birth of God the Son. It's just a very 00:03:05.799 --> 00:03:11.879 ordinary narrative of a baby being born, and we can relate to that. And that is typical 00:03:11.879 --> 00:03:21.039 of Luke. He takes these things that are historical and real, and he declares them. He records 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:28.759 them. And then, as we saw last week as well, the two go side by side, this ordinary birth 00:03:28.759 --> 00:03:35.159 narrative, this solo harpist, as it were, kind of understatedly introducing the birth 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:42.759 of Jesus, brings us to the crescendo of the middle section of the shepherds and the angels, 00:03:42.759 --> 00:03:48.560 where Luke is quite content to put the historical and the ordinary narrative of a birth side 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:55.199 by side with the supernatural and with the breaking of heaven into earth and into our 00:03:55.199 --> 00:04:04.119 whole circumstances. He gives, therefore, into this ordinary narrative, he gives a spiritual 00:04:04.119 --> 00:04:11.359 context, and he explains who is being born, why he's being born, and why it's unique 00:04:11.359 --> 00:04:17.519 and significant that he's been born. Dr. Luke has no shame in placing the two things 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:24.000 together, the historicity of the birth and the supernatural reality of heaven breaking 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:30.600 into the whole scene, the glory of God being revealed and the angel speaking. 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:36.680 So there's a few things I want to just say quickly about this second section, this supernatural 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:44.480 dimension, this orchestrated revelation of why Jesus is coming. And the first is this 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:52.759 paradoxical. It's an amazing situation because what you have is two complete extremes coming 00:04:52.759 --> 00:04:59.199 together in the announcement of the angels to the shepherds. You've got the angel of 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:04.719 the Lord coming, and you've got the glory of the Lord being revealed around him, and 00:05:04.719 --> 00:05:14.279 you've got the angelic choir singing. So you've got this divine intervention through the breaking 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:21.560 into our society and into our world of the angelic beings, the angel of the Lord representing 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:28.759 the highest rank of all created beings that are unseen. We don't see angels, many people 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:31.800 in the world in which we live will not believe in them, and they'll think they're just like 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:40.040 fairies or like Father Christmas. But we recognize the spirits, unseen spiritual dimension breaking 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:46.439 in and the brightness of God's glory shining in the situation. So you've got this amazing 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:57.879 situation of heaven breaking in, and heaven and the angels come paradoxically to shepherds. 00:05:57.879 --> 00:06:04.959 So this remarkable announcement, this setting the scene of who Jesus is and why he comes 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:10.639 as the most significant and unique event in the history of the world is given to shepherds. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:17.319 Now, even in our world, even in our lives, okay, we're professionals here, you're city 00:06:17.319 --> 00:06:23.599 dwellers, and there's probably not many, there may be some children of shepherds here, but 00:06:23.599 --> 00:06:28.399 there's probably not many shepherds here. But even in our context, shepherds, being 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:34.719 a shepherd is a fairly noble profession. It's regarded with some respect here in Scotland, 00:06:34.719 --> 00:06:39.159 I can say that, as my brother-in-law and father-in-law were both shepherds. But generally you would 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:46.160 all agree that a shepherd was a respectful profession to be in, and as Christians we've 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:51.960 got a respect for shepherds because of the biblical imagery of shepherding and the Lord's 00:06:51.960 --> 00:06:58.560 my shepherd and all that. But in the society in which Jesus was born into, shepherds were 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:06.000 not a respected profession. They were similar to, in many ways, to the tax collectors and 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:12.240 the prostitutes of Jesus' day in terms of social standing. They were second class, they 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:17.800 were untrustworthy, their word wouldn't be taken in court, they had no civil rights, 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:26.839 and they were despised, a bit like, I don't know what you're saying, but in culture and 00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:32.560 society, travellers, because they would always be on the move, they wouldn't be fixed in 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:36.680 any one place, they didn't put their roots down, they would be working in different parts 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:43.959 of the country, and they were genuinely despised in the society's terms. Only Luke mentions 00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:50.639 them in the New Testament. But there's a very powerful message that God is giving to us 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:57.120 when he breaks in from heaven with the announcement of the birth of Jesus and gives it to shepherds. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:02.199 This great announcement, this significant announcement with the glory of God being revealed 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:06.839 is not given to in the decree in the days of Caesar Augustus, it's not given to Caesar 00:08:06.839 --> 00:08:14.839 Augustus who was reputed to be a god in his day, it wasn't given to Parliament or to the 00:08:14.839 --> 00:08:21.399 royal palace, not to the powerful and important, it was given to shepherds, and there's a 00:08:21.399 --> 00:08:25.800 spiritual significance there. And I don't think we get that, you know, with all the 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:31.399 sentiment of him, carols and everything about shepherds at night and, you know, nativity 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:35.639 scenes and all that kind of thing, we probably don't get the significance of what Jesus 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:41.519 is saying. To try and parallel that, and it's not a very good parallel, but it would be like 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:47.799 today the Queen's coronation or the next coronation of the next king, whoever it will be, being 00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:54.199 held in a brothel. That's what it would do, that's a kind of similarity, that's the shock 00:08:54.199 --> 00:08:59.000 factor that the people would have got when the announcement of the Messiah was given 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:06.840 to the shepherds, like the Queen's coronation being held in a brothel. And there's a scandal, 00:09:06.840 --> 00:09:12.279 and there's a signal within that message that Jesus, that the Bible is bringing to us, that 00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:18.799 he is turning convention in its head, and that our standards of significance and importance 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:25.440 and morality and goodness are not his, and they don't cut it with God. Caesar Augustus 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:32.640 saying is God, the important Roman leaders or the Jewish religious leaders of the day, 00:09:32.640 --> 00:09:39.320 God's not impressed with that, and God takes his message to the outcasts and the marginalized. 00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:45.280 That's the message from the beginning of Jesus coming, it's the message of all the gospels, 00:09:45.280 --> 00:09:52.160 that Jesus spends his time with the uneducated, with the lowly, with the marginalized, with 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:59.039 the outcasts, because he is saying something significant. He's saying, I want you to see, 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:04.839 and I want everyone to see, that I have come to people who are in need, and people who 00:10:04.839 --> 00:10:12.679 need a redeemer. Mark chapter 2 in verse 17, if we have that for the screen, if it's on 00:10:12.679 --> 00:10:18.000 the screen, and when Jesus heard it, he said to them, those who are well have no need of 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:24.639 a physician, but those who are sick, I came not to call them righteous, but sinners, and 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:30.039 the glory of God being revealed through the angels to the shepherds was exactly an announcement 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:36.039 of that. It's exactly an announcement that that is who Jesus come to save. He says, I've 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:42.320 not come to save people who think they don't need a Savior. It's not that they don't need 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:47.399 a Savior, but they think they don't need a Savior. I've come to those who will recognize 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:54.399 their need, and I spend my time with those who are already socially outcast, because 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:59.039 they are beginning to see their need. And that is a huge lesson, I think that's a huge 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:06.039 lesson for us. It's a huge lesson for us not to be complacent, not to be self-righteous, 00:11:06.039 --> 00:11:11.639 not to be judgmental, and not to be careless about our spiritual condition. Yeah, it's 00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:20.240 okay, I'm fine. I'm not a bad guy, a bad person. I'll treat Jesus like that fourth 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:29.080 emergency service now and again, but there's no sense of daily rescue and need from this 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:35.360 great Redeemer who promises to be with us every step of the way. So, it's at that level, 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:45.200 it's paradoxical, but it's also informative, this orchestrated middle section. So, the angel 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:54.399 brings information about who this baby who is born. There was, I don't know, hundreds 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:59.399 of babies were born at the same time as Jesus, all through the world, but this particular 00:11:59.399 --> 00:12:04.960 birth is special, and the angel brings information about why it's special, and it's grounded 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:10.680 in the Old Testament, which again is significant for us. It's not a random birth, it's not, 00:12:10.680 --> 00:12:16.519 oh, I'm surprising you all. This could never have, this is grounded in the Old Testament 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:20.960 and in the plan and purpose of God, and we've seen that all through, haven't we? So, he's 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:28.519 going to be born, we're told, in the King's town in verse 11, we've found to you this 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:33.600 day is born in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and we know that Mary 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:40.040 and Joseph had moved to Bethlehem. Now, in Micah chapter 5 and verse 2, we have that 00:12:40.040 --> 00:12:46.399 prophesied, but you Bethlehem epithera, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:52.680 from you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler of Israel, whose coming forth 00:12:52.680 --> 00:12:59.320 is from old, from ancient days. This Old Testament declaration that the Savior would 00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:07.400 come from Bethlehem, the city of David, it's the city where David ironically was the shepherd 00:13:07.400 --> 00:13:12.920 king, and the people had seemed to forgotten that about the whole concept of shepherding. 00:13:12.920 --> 00:13:18.200 It's where he was crowned, and those of you who are part of the congregation and have been 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:26.920 for a little while may remember our study in Ruth, where Naomi left Bethlehem, which 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:32.159 was the house of bread, that's what it means, Bethlehem, the house of bread, which symbolized 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:39.000 the blessing of being God's covenant people, but it was in a time of famine. But they left 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:43.599 the place where God promised to be if they would turn back to him, and they went to another 00:13:43.599 --> 00:13:50.679 place. And so it has whole of Old Testament significance, as the place where the Messiah 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:55.199 would come from, who would at one point in his ministry declare himself to be the bread 00:13:55.200 --> 00:14:02.480 of life. And that's all fitting into the picture that is being spoken of here, and later on 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:07.160 in Micah it speaks of him as the shepherd of the flock. 00:14:07.160 --> 00:14:12.320 So it's born in the King's town, and earlier we're told that Luke tells us that Jesus would 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:18.520 be the firstborn. And again, I think that's significant. It's significant biblically, 00:14:18.520 --> 00:14:23.440 this whole term that's given to Jesus, the baby being the firstborn. There's an interesting 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:28.200 question asked, I don't think I put this on the screen, Micah 6, verse 7, I don't think 00:14:28.200 --> 00:14:36.000 so, where Micah the prophet asks, shall I give my firstborn for the sin of my soul? 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:41.520 It's that question, who would do that? Who would ever give their most beloved child for 00:14:41.520 --> 00:14:45.280 the sin of their soul? It's unthinkable, it's kind of, it was an unthinkable statement, 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:54.279 he couldn't possibly do that. But here the firstborn is the child, as it were, the incarnate 00:14:54.279 --> 00:15:00.879 child of God, the Son of God. And it is, speaks about his birth, but it speaks more about 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:06.480 his designation, the firstborn in Scripture was the ruler often, was the preeminent one, 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:12.559 who would receive the inheritance of people. And that is significant in the life of Jesus, 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:20.079 also in Romans 829, that phrase is used of Jesus, for those whom he foreknew, he also 00:15:20.079 --> 00:15:24.399 predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:30.159 among many brothers. So that sense in which even in his resurrection, on the Sunday morning, 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:35.399 first day of the week, the resurrection speaks of him being the fruit of the salvation, the 00:15:35.399 --> 00:15:45.120 firstborn, the creator who is both dead and alive, and the fruit of the salvation. And 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:51.879 then in Colossians 1.15, similarly, it speaks of Jesus as being the image of the invisible 00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:59.960 God, the firstborn over all creation, giving him this great sense of preeminence and significance, 00:15:59.960 --> 00:16:10.160 and he comes as the firstborn to bring peace in a war and in our hearts. Christ, who is 00:16:10.160 --> 00:16:13.680 the one who brings peace, I'm going to say a little bit more briefly about that at the 00:16:13.680 --> 00:16:21.480 end. But it's informative, and we're told he's the firstborn, and we also know he's 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:28.759 one that's born with names and with titles. Verse 11, he's called the Saviour, the deliverer, 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:36.360 the rescuer. Significant, that's important for us today, is called the Christ, the anointed 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:43.559 one, the chosen one, the Messiah. That name just links back into every book of the Old 00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:49.039 Testament. It speaks of the coming of the Saviour, the Messiah, the promised one, the 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:54.679 gift of God, right from Genesis 3 and the seed of the woman, one who's set apart, the 00:16:54.679 --> 00:17:00.279 one, the one, the only one. You know, it's not like there's Jesus and there's Buddha 00:17:00.279 --> 00:17:03.919 and there's Muhammad, and there's a whole lot of different ones that you could just 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:08.639 take your pick and mix, depending on your culture and the society and where you're from. 00:17:08.639 --> 00:17:16.759 The claim, the exclusive claim, a deliberately exclusive unique claim of the Messiah being 00:17:16.759 --> 00:17:22.720 God's only one. He was the only one in the mind of the divine, the all-knowing one. He 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:28.600 says, there's no alternative, there isn't another way. It doesn't, it's not just about 00:17:28.600 --> 00:17:32.440 where we're born and what we happen to have opened in our lives in terms of religious 00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:37.160 books. He said, this is the one, this is the Redeemer, this, and heaven breaks into the 00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:42.600 situation to say that. And he says, he's Lord, not only is he Messiah and the Saviour, he's 00:17:42.600 --> 00:17:49.440 like an astonishing claim that he is Lord, Christ the Lord. It's not merely human term 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:58.240 of respect and esteem. This baby is being confessed as one who is the full deity of 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:07.680 God, that he is the Lord. It's a divine title, incomparable. Glance back to the solo harp 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:19.799 section. Glance back to it. This ordinary birth, he is the Lord. He's declared as God 00:18:19.799 --> 00:18:24.480 in the flesh, you know. You need to soak that in. We need to soak that in and you, you know, 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:31.000 what kind of God would do this? What kind of God would do this? You accuse Him of being 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:38.480 distant, of being disinterested in your life. And here we have a picture of the God who 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:45.920 is conceived in the womb of Mary and is born into poverty, a stricken child of ostracized, 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:55.400 beggarly poor parents revealed to nobody but to disinterested shepherds. The greatest 00:18:55.400 --> 00:19:05.080 announcement ever that God chooses to give is given in this remarkably that this is God 00:19:05.080 --> 00:19:10.680 who comes in and it's good for us to be reminded of that afresh. 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:17.519 So the last thing I want to say this morning is that it's not only informative and paradoxical 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:26.119 but I'm moving out of the passage for this but it's recorded for our certainty. Okay, 00:19:26.119 --> 00:19:32.559 so this birth narrative that we receive and often hear and you maybe think you're tired 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:37.079 of hearing it and you know it all and maybe we should preach about the birth of Jesus 00:19:37.079 --> 00:19:44.599 in June. I think that would be better sometimes. Just to take away the familiarity of doing 00:19:44.599 --> 00:19:53.319 it in December. Okay, maybe not. It's just an idea. It's recorded for our certainty. 00:19:53.319 --> 00:20:00.759 Luke chapter 1 and verse 3 it says, It seemed good to me, this is Luke giving the reason 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:07.359 for his writing of the book. It seemed good to me having followed all these things closely 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:12.119 from time past to write an orderly account most excellent theophilus that you may have 00:20:12.119 --> 00:20:18.039 certainty concerning the things you've been taught. So Luke's account, you know the narrative 00:20:18.039 --> 00:20:26.679 of the nativity is given for us to have certainty about what has been seen by the eyewitnesses 00:20:26.679 --> 00:20:34.799 and what is being declared to the people he's writing to as the gospel. It's both historical 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:42.000 and historically sound but also miraculous and divine in its message. Luke has no problem 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:46.880 with that and it's still speaking to us. So it's speaking to us I think about a couple 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:54.400 of things. The first is peace. I didn't mention that briefly. And this week I came into this 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:59.519 study. I usually have a daily reading book that I have that I read at home. It's actually 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:05.559 surprise, surprise, Tim Keller. And it's going through the Psalms. It's a great book going 00:21:05.559 --> 00:21:08.279 through the Psalms. That's the one I normally read in the morning but I didn't have it with 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:13.240 me. I came into the church and I've got a number of different daily reading books just 00:21:13.240 --> 00:21:21.720 in my shelves beside my office. And I took one of them and it was just an old daily reading 00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:28.639 book written by a Dutch pastor. And it happened to be that the day I was preparing the sermon 00:21:28.639 --> 00:21:35.079 and I was looking at this aspect of peace. And the message from that day was from Isaiah 00:21:35.079 --> 00:21:40.519 52 which spoke about how beautiful the mountains of Him who brings good news, good tidings. 00:21:40.519 --> 00:21:46.319 And then this Dutch pastor explained a little bit about peace from his context. And he said, 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:50.799 if you want to know again what the good news is, think back to the situation in the Netherlands 00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:56.559 in the year 1945. It was spring after the most fearful winter Europe had ever known. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:22:00.679 Sons were murdered, fathers were powerless, daughters were insecure and mothers could 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:07.160 no longer give daily food to their children. People died of starvation and they cried to 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:12.279 God under the heel of the Nazi oppressor. They met in churches and in the long dark 00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:17.880 nights there was no electricity. They prayed fervently for freedom, for help, for a way 00:22:17.880 --> 00:22:23.880 out. On the evening of May the 4th a rumor went through the country. It was an electrifying 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:30.880 rumor and it went faster than a prairie fire. It's over! The war is over! Peace! Not one 00:22:31.800 --> 00:22:37.440 healthy person stayed in his chair. Crowds went out into the dark streets. Someone started 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:44.440 to sing a song of liberty and they were all filled with joy. This comes closest, he says, 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:49.880 to what happened at Christmas. It was in that night that the heavens were opened and a voice 00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:56.880 said, it's over! It's all over! Now the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:03.880 And we've lost sight of that declaration of peace because we are living as it were tangibly, 00:23:06.360 --> 00:23:13.360 in many ways, in peaceful days. But the peace of God is a spiritual peace and it's a vital 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:20.359 peace for us. Living in the knowledge that death has been defeated for everyone who puts 00:23:20.359 --> 00:23:26.359 their faith in Jesus Christ. And that we are made right with God through the sacrifice, 00:23:26.359 --> 00:23:33.359 death and resurrection of our Savior because He loves us and because there's no other way. 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:40.359 So it's peace. And it's also, as we're told, the good news of great joy. And we know these 00:23:40.359 --> 00:23:46.359 words, don't we? And the experience of the believer, and I mentioned this last week, I 00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:53.359 guess, whatever happens in our lives, whatever good things we experience are otherwise. And 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:57.759 this, for this time of year, is a great time of joy. But as I said in prayer, remember 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:03.240 it's not for a lot of people. Let's not just presume it's a great time of happiness and 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:08.839 peace for everyone. Remember that in many families, not only is there loss, but there's 00:24:08.839 --> 00:24:14.519 tension to come together this time of year. Many families are not happy families and the 00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:21.519 coming together brings huge tensions and difficulties. Remember that. But this we have is good news 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:30.759 of great joy, great personal news that we have and that we share. That's why I think 00:24:30.959 --> 00:24:36.799 in application of this, conversions, people coming to faith in Jesus Christ is the life 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:43.480 blood of our churches. It's why testimonies matter so much and why we're struggling as 00:24:43.480 --> 00:24:48.960 a church when we don't hear testimonies and when people aren't being brought to Christ 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:55.599 and when there's just a level kind of everyone going on the same way. It's a great and encouraging 00:24:55.599 --> 00:25:00.720 thing to see God still working in people's lives and transforming them. And you can gauge 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:07.400 your understanding of the message of the gospel by how much you're thrilled when you hear 00:25:07.400 --> 00:25:12.559 about someone coming to faith, especially someone you know. It should be the one thing 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:18.120 that just breaks your heart in the best way, that just breaks your heart with joy because 00:25:18.120 --> 00:25:24.640 it's the most significant and the realest, greatest reality in their lives. And it's 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:31.640 something that we should rejoice in. And of course, in terms of the certainty of this 00:25:33.080 --> 00:25:40.080 great message being one which is good news and one of peace is that that repeated refrain 00:25:41.280 --> 00:25:48.280 from the angel of the Lord says, fear not, don't be afraid. And I repeat that. We need 00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:55.039 to grasp that in our lives. It's a great word, isn't it, to end the year and start the new 00:25:55.039 --> 00:26:00.559 year with a world that's really upside down and could instill within us a great sense of 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:07.559 fear about the future of the world and the future of our nation and the future of our 00:26:07.559 --> 00:26:11.359 relationships and the future of society and whatever, but maybe at a much more personal 00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:16.399 level you've received bad news or you're struggling with difficulties in one way or 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:23.400 another. He says in Christ, he says fear not, even in your fragility, whatever it might 00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:30.960 be, fear not, being your church life or your home life, as leaders we're fearful for how 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:36.519 to progress and we do things in God's way and God's will. Fear not with your lack of 00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:43.519 faith, failure and doubt. Fear not, it's really good news. Trust in Him. That's what pleases 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:50.519 Him, that simple trust that we, we don't need to know all the answers, but we entrust ourselves 00:26:52.039 --> 00:26:57.359 to the one who does, even if he chooses not to reveal these answers to us, but we trust 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:04.359 him. Why? Because he's good and because he's already shown that as God, he came and lay 00:27:04.359 --> 00:27:11.359 in a stinking, smelly manger and lived in anonymity and was rejected in his public life and was 00:27:23.479 --> 00:27:30.479 abandoned by his friends and was forsaken by his God so that we might live. That's 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:37.480 why we needn't fear. Amen. Let's bow our heads briefly in prayer. 00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:43.880 Father God, we thank you for your great truth and we thank you that when often we don't 00:27:43.880 --> 00:27:50.880 feel your grip of grace, it remains on us as believers and you keep us from wandering 00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:58.240 and when we do wander, you leave the 99 that seem to be doing okay and you come after us. 00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:05.240 You love returning the wandering sheep to the fold. You look out for the prodigal child 00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:14.640 who is wild and unrepentant until they see their emptiness without you and Lord give 00:28:16.359 --> 00:28:23.359 us that humility of heart and that strength and courage to face up to the spiritual realities 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:30.359 that sometimes we run away from and help us to hold on to you as this great God, yet 00:28:32.039 --> 00:28:39.039 a brother who understands us and who has gone before us and who has died in our place. We 00:28:39.439 --> 00:28:44.919 rejoice in the good news of the gospel today. It's great good news of great joy and may 00:28:44.920 --> 00:28:51.920 we respond in faith and in trust for Jesus' sake. Amen.