Father, we ask that you gently but deeply pour out the Holy Spirit upon us and bring the story of Christmas deeply to our heart, to the command center of our lives, where we might know you, Father, and we might be more and more and more shaped by the gospel.
And all these things we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So, my Christmas Eve sermons are always a bit weird.
I know there's lots of little ones. I know they're very, very wiggly.
And so we try to intersperse the sermon with some videos.
Andrew, do you have the first video sort of lined up?
Okay.
Oh, Christmas tree.
How lovely are we herening.
Oh, Christmas tree.
In forest madness springing.
Then in the name of Christmas joy,
We speak your life to kill this joy.
Oh, Christmas tree.
Now meet our answers swinging.
Oh, Christmas tree.
With fire and rose now fairly.
Oh, Christmas tree.
And from your home it's fairly.
Set that a song with new friends.
For long, for long, as you just best.
Oh, Christmas tree.
Rest from your native dwelling.
Oh, Christmas tree.
With every hour decaying.
Oh, Christmas tree.
Silver and altar reigning.
With gentle trays to hide the crown.
We blew the needles from the ground.
Oh, Christmas tree.
The rotten branch is praying.
Humanity.
Oh, Christmas tree.
Humanity.
A flesh and bone plantation.
Humanity.
A feather tree.
No golden decorations.
To cut and tease.
And trick his pride.
Surround with family through the night.
Humanity.
Oh, fall and tree.
Distant for exploration.
Notivity.
The King of Heaven.
Loving ability.
The promise lead.
Into the earth now soren.
And bringing forth our own clay
The Son of God on Christmas Day
Nativity, their fruitful tree
Now in our midst has fallen
Born to wait as popular
Born to give us every love
In heaven's name, rejoice and sing
My true love, peace for me
A couple of weeks ago
I was having a conversation with somebody in a coffee shop
And it was just after that Christian missionary
You know the young guy who went on an island
Where they didn't like people from outside
It was a complete unreached people group
And he got killed
Remember he got killed?
His body was on the shore I think
For a little while before they were able to rescue it
And this fellow, this friend of mine
Whom I've talked to quite a few times
You know, gay, sort of vaguely Jewish
And very, very secular
He found himself, he was telling me
He found himself completely and utterly gripped
By the story of this missionary
This young guy
Both fascinated that this young guy
Would have such a desire to go and even risk his life
And at the same time just sort of bothered
That something like that would go on in the Christian faith
That there's something about that
You know, telling other people about it
Was so important
Anyway, we had this conversation
It was one of those odd moments
He actually worked in that particular place
And we had five or six or seven minutes
Where nobody came to the lineup
We had a bit of a conversation
And he got to air some of his mis...
You know, he said certain things
He thought about Christians
And he trusted that I wouldn't be offended
And one of the things I said to him
Is that Christians
Nobody who reads the Bible
Should come to the conclusion
That the Bible believes the world
Is divided between good people and bad people
I said, the Bible doesn't teach that
Christians aren't supposed to believe that
It's just not what Christians believe
I said, Christians believe
That the line between good and evil
Goes right down every individual
That every human being
We can do good things
But everything about us is touched
By evil
And I said, so the gospel
I said to him
Isn't about how to make good
Bad people good
The Bible
The gospel
Is about how to make dead people alive
Jesus didn't come
To make bad people good
Jesus came
To make dead people alive
And
The wonderful thing about that funny
Silly video
Is that it really
Tries to bring home to us
The fact that
We are separated from God
And
And we're on
On the way to dying
I know it came to
Come here to Christmas Eve
And I tell you really
Really fantastic stuff
You're all one closer to death
Than you were the day before
And it bothers lots of us
To hear that
But the fact of the matter is
It's just unbelievably true
And
And so
It's that type of context
Where
And we have to hear
The
The stories of Christmas
So I
I read from Luke
If you have your Bibles
It's actually going to be up there
On the screen
I'll just sort of
Refresh your mind
About the first part of it
Andrew
If you could just skip to
On the screen
To verse
Verse 8
So
Luke
Who by the way
Was born a pagan
Lived a pagan
As a pagan
For many many years
He would have
Worshipped the gods of Rome
And maybe the gods of Greece
Just the same gods
With different names
We never hear about
How it happens
But we know that
As an adult
As a well educated man
He was a doctor
He became a Christian
After having been a pagan
For decades
And
He ends up
Writing
A biography of Jesus
Because he was
A well educated man
And as a doctor
He was concerned about facts
And understanding things
And so he interviewed
A whole pile of eyewitnesses
He read
Official documents
And he tells us
A true story of Jesus
Not a story
Inspired by true events
Or based on true events
But a true story of Jesus
And we have here
This just very very simple
Description of how Jesus
Got born
We'll just sort of read that
And just to bring it
Right to our minds
It goes
Verse 1
In those days
A decree went out
From Caesar Augustus
That all the world
Should be registered
This was the first registration
When Quirinius
Was governor of Syria
And all went to be registered
Each to his own town
And Joseph also
Went up from Galilee
From the town of
Nazareth
To Judea
To the city of David
Which is called Bethlehem
Because he was
Of the house and lineage
Of David
To be registered
With Mary
His betrothed
Who was with child
And just sort of
Pause there
One of the things
Which is so wonderful
About this story
Is you know
A lot of times
When I talk to people
About what they believe
Spiritually
They'll tell me
Abstractions
They'll tell me
Principles
They'll tell me
Different practices
That they follow
They tell me
Some of the ideas
That they hold
As being very very precious
And on one hand
Of course
We Christians
Can understand that
I mean we understand
Certain practices
And we have certain ideas
But the thing
Which is so wonderful
About the Christian faith
Is that it's
It's rooted in history
It's
Luke claims to be
Telling us
A true story
About something
That happens
To a man named
Jesus
And in the story
Of his birth
One of the things
Which is so neat
About this
Is that it's
Just like real life
You know
Just like in real life
You know
The politicians
Trump makes a decision
And he can make a decision
And before you know it
Fleets are in motion
And armies are in motion
And the whole Twitter sphere
Is completely and utterly enraged
And there's demonstrations
On the street
Or it can be the same
For Putin
It can be the same
For Trudeau
He can make a decision
About who gets to have
Summer jobs
And the next thing you know
The whole nation
Has to move and bend
And here we have
Caesar Augustus
He makes a decision
That he has to have
A better understanding
Of who's in his empire
So he can tax them better
And so he can raise up
Troops better
And he makes this decision
And before you know it
Even something
Joseph and Mary
Whom he's never heard of
And he's never heard of Jesus
And he's probably never heard
Of Jewish people
And he's never read the Bible
And he just makes this decision
Of his own free will
And people are moving
All over the empire
And in the process of it
He causes events
To just transpire
So that Jesus fulfills
In his birth
A whole pile of prophecies
Written anywhere from
400 to a thousand years earlier
And that's really cool
And so Joseph and Mary
Find themselves in Bethlehem
And in verse 7
And she gave birth
To her firstborn son
And wrapped him
In swaddling cloths
And laid him in a manger
Because there was no place
For them in the inn
And you know
I talked about this
A little bit yesterday
Probably what's going on
Here partially
It doesn't have to be an inn
It could just be a room
Somewhere
And the city was
Piled with people
And Joseph probably
Had some relatives there
But he was also
Facing social ostracism
Because he didn't divorce
Or put Mary aside
When she had a baby
Because she was pregnant
Out of wedlock
And both of them
Are living with that stigma
And that social ostracism
So the baby
And it's very interesting
Because this story
Is going to tell us
Remarkable things
About who Jesus is
But it tells us
That Jesus is born
Outside
Not inside any room
Or shelter
But outside
And after his birth
They put him in a feeding trough
Where animals would be fed
Now one of the things
Which is so cool
About the Christian faith
So neat about it
Is that
We believe
That God keeps doing things
And acting
In our world
And when God acts
He doesn't just sort of act
I mean sometimes
He acts just in our lives
Like that
But in the Bible
What it is
Is that God acts
And then he helps us
To understand what he's done
He tells us
This is what I've done
And this is what it means
And often he tells us
And this is how
You're supposed to respond
To respond correctly
And so Luke
Here gives us
A bit of an explanation
About the birth
And it comes in the next few verses
Look at verse 8
And in the same region
There were shepherds
Out in the field
Keeping watch over their flock
By night
And an angel of the Lord
Appeared to them
And the glory of the Lord
Shone around them
And they were filled
With great fear
Now just pause here
For a second
One of the things
You need to understand
About these shepherds
Is that there's nothing
Holy about them
Now
Maybe you could ask
Major
The Reverend Major Turner
Or a couple of other things
What's it like
When there's a whole pile
Of guys out in the bush
And there's no women around
I'm sure they're probably
Spending all their time
Praying
Reading Shakespeare
Some knitting
Maybe
So the thing about it
Is you have to get rid
Of all of this
Pious imagery
That we have
About the Bible
What Jesus is
What the Bible is saying here
Is there's a bunch of guys
Out in the bush
Without any women around
And they were acting
Like guys in the bush
With no women around
That's what they were doing
And you can talk
To a couple of guys
About what that might have been
At a bare minimum
One of the ways
That working class guys
When they're in the bush
Away from the woman
One of the bare minimum
Things they would do
Is if they talked to each other
They'd be insulting each other
All the time
Because that's how
You communicate affection
If you're a guy
You insult the other person
And there was probably
Anyway
We won't go any further with that
But this is a before picture
This isn't a whole pile
Of people who were picked
Because they were especially holy
And that's probably part of the reason
Why they're afraid
An angel shows up
Who knows what they were doing
And they are completely
And utterly terrified by it
And in verse 10
And the angel said to them
Fear not
For behold
I bring you good news
Of great joy
That will be for all the people
For unto you is born this day
In the city of David
A savior
Who is Christ the Lord
And this will be a sign for you
You will find a baby
Wrapped in swaddling cloths
And lying in a manger
Now just sort of pause there
I don't know if you noticed
The huge disconnect
The angel said
Listen
First of all
It's an angel who shows up
To talk to these shepherds
The original language
Is he stands right
He gets right in their face
He stands right in front of them
So the shepherds are all here
The angel isn't sort of like
Way back a kilometer
Yelling at them
The angel gets right in their face
And the angel says
I bring you good news
Of great joy
And he says
In the city
Is born a savior
And he is the Lord
And he is Christ
It means that all of the Old Testament prophecies
About however they worked
About God's deliver
It's all been fulfilled
That baby is being born
Just down the hill
And then you'd expect to say
And this is going to be the sign
And the sign might be
That if you go down there
There's a thousand angels around him
If you go down
The whole village has come around
And they're all praying
And they're singing psalms
Or maybe there's a whole pile
Of army people
Or there's some great majestic thing
And that's what you expect him to say
But the story takes a very, very funny turn
This person who is the Savior
And the Christ
And the Lord
He's lying in a manger
He's lying in a feeding trough
And so then in verse 13
It says
And suddenly there was
With the angel
A multitude of the heavenly host
Praising God
And by the way
Whenever you see that word
Heavenly host
You know what it means
It means an angel army
It's one of those things
That in a lot of modern liturgies
They get rid of any reference
To a host
Because we have to all be pacifists nowadays
And you can't have any reference
To the military
But what is there
It's an angel army
And the angel army
Is singing
And what are they saying?
Glory to God in the highest
And on earth peace
Among those with whom he is pleased
When the angels went away
From them into heaven
The shepherds said to one another
Let us go over to Bethlehem
And see this thing
That has happened
Which the Lord has made known to us
And they went with haste
And found Mary and Joseph
And the babe line in a manger
And when they saw it
They made known the saying
That had been told them
Concerning this child
And all who heard it
Wondered at what the shepherds told them
So they
Here's one of the things
Which is so cool about this
You know
My
When you have a remarkable event
You remember things
Some of you know
I have nine kids
So
I don't know
There's
Thousands of times
You pushed a kid
In a stroller
Like I had thousands of times
Where I did that
But there's one particular time
I was pushing with my wife
Some of our kids in the stroller
And I always remember
That particular event
Why do I remember that particular event?
Because it happened
Remember
I don't know how many years ago
Was it when all of the eastern seaboard
Of Canada and the United States
Lost their power?
I can't remember how long ago that was
But then everybody lost their power
You might remember that
And so we didn't have any power
And it was really, really, really dark
In the city
It was very unusual
Because there's no electricity anywhere
And I remember
We decided we'd go out for a walk
It was like a July night or something
We went out for a walk
Pushing our little kids in the stroller
And I can't remember which one was in the stroller
But all of a sudden
He excitedly or she excitedly said
Look, the power's come back on
And it was because a car was coming around the corner
And my child thought
That because the car had lights on
It meant the power was coming back on
And I mean, that's a nothing story
But I always remember that
I always remember that
Because of the context of us having no power
And the thing which is so neat about this story
Is that in a sense
Caesar Augustus organized
And orchestrated a story
So that 40 years later
30 years later
When people are looking out at eyewitnesses
They'd say
Do you remember back
When Caesar Augustus
Made us all go back to Bethlehem
And was there anything weird
That happened that night
And people would all go
Oh yeah
I could hardly get any sleep that night
Because a woman who was outside
Was giving birth to a baby
And she kept screaming
Because babies, when they get born
It's not usually quiet
Like without any drugs
It's like there's lots of screaming
And so probably for decades afterwards
You know, people might not remember
All sorts of other births
But that birth
They would remember
And because they would remember that birth
And because they hadn't been able
To have any sleep
There were probably lots of people
Coming down to see
What was going on with the woman
And they would have seen the shepherds
And they would have heard
All the things that the shepherds had to say
And it's one of the things
Which is remarkable about this story
That makes it so believable
That when Luke was going to look
For eyewitnesses to find out
What happened
He'd have all sorts of people
Who could remember
Because of that unique set
Of circumstances
Before we go any further
Next video
So, just to sort of bring this to
Start to bring it to a bit of a conclusion
What we hear in the Christmas story
What Christmas Christmas is all about
In secular Christmas
Not that there's anything wrong
With secular Christmas
It's not that there's anything wrong
With Canadian Christmas
But Christian Christmas
Is something different
It emerges out of remembering
And reconnecting
And rejoicing
In these foundational stories
About the birth of Jesus
At the heart of this
Is, if you could put up
The first point, Andrew
At the heart of this
Is Luke's story
Is what the angels say
The baby is
It's what the angels tell the shepherds
Who the baby is
And the angels say
That when we hear God
We hear good news
We hear good news from God
That's what the angels say
And the good news from God
Is that our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ
Is born
It's news that comes from God
It's news about who Jesus is
And it's news that
All of the prophecies are fulfilled
That he is going to be the one
Who is going to save us
And it opens up this other thing
That ultimately only God can save us
And so when it says
That he is Lord
It has this double meaning
It means that he is to be
Lord of our lives
But it also points to the fact
That it's not just a human being
Who has been born
But that it is God
The Son of God himself
Who has been born
Who has come to save us
If we could see the next video
Which is silence and fury
That will help bring this home
If you could put up the next point
One of the things
Which is so remarkable
About this story
Is not just that
God himself comes
And is born in a stable
Not just that he is the one
Who is going to save us
Not just that he is the one
Who is Lord
Not just that he is the one
Who is keeping
God is showing
That God has kept
All of his promises
To send a Savior
And deliver
But hidden in this story
And a part that often
Gives us lots of trouble
Is this other idea
That everything about
What God is doing
In the person of Jesus
Is all grace
We hear good news from God
Our faith in him
Is all grace
From beginning to end
And every moment in between
It's all grace
And it comes in this odd part
Of the angel song
Which often troubles people
But it shouldn't trouble you
Because what it's saying
Is exactly what I have
Up there
It says in the song
Of the angels
Glory to God in the highest
And on earth peace
Among those with whom
He is pleased
And the message is
Is that because of
The birth of this baby
There is going to be
A means that God
Has provided
Whereby human beings
Can once again
Be at peace with God
We've been at enmity
With God
We have been enemies
Of God
God himself
Is doing something
To make peace
With himself
And it says
On those whom
He has favor
And whom he has blessing
And the wonderful thing
Is this news
All comes to shepherds
They're once again
A group of guys
Out in the bush
Without the women
Not doing holy things
Probably
And the message
Comes to them
And this is the wonderful thing
It's out of God's grace
That you hear about Jesus
It's out of God's grace
That you turn your heart to him
When you turn your heart to him
What he gives you is grace
Which is unmerited kindness
And what it is
And so at every point in time
It's not as if you have to
Live a good life
And finally God
Will show you grace
It's not as if you have to
Be successful
It's not as if you have to
Be a winner
It's not as if you have to
Be beautiful
It's not as if you have to
Be just anything like that
You can be broken
You can be anything
And that God
Comes to you
With unmerited kindness
That you might turn to him
And when you turn to him
You only receive
Unmerited kindness
And when you walk with Jesus
All you ever receive from him
Is unmerited kindness
And mercy
And that's what the angels
Are saying
God is providing
The means by which
We can be at peace
With him
And everything about this
Is grace
Unmerited favor
You don't have to become
Purified
Before you know something
And before you can
Have peace with God
It begins with having
Peace with God
And that begins
To have a way
By which you can start
To see the world
Different
And start to live
A different type of life
If you could put up
The next point Andrew
That would be very
Very great
You see
What we need to do
Is to pray
That the Lord
Will grow in us
A new sense
Of identity and self
As I receive
As you receive
As we receive
And ponder
Your good news
God's good news
You see
Because what happens
Is the way
That all religions
Sean did a wonderful sermon
I don't know how many years ago
How many months ago it was
Where he talks about
How every different system
Of thought
Or religion
Or ideology
It's all about a matter
Of you have to
Purify yourself
In some way
And after you've
Purified yourself
In some way
Then maybe you start
To get some type
Of illumination
And knowledge
And after you've
Been purified
And you have
Some illumination
And knowledge
Then you can finally
Have union with God
And the good news
Of the gospel
Is that it's
The complete
Opposite process
That what happens
Is completely
And utterly
Out of grace
You put your faith
And trust in Jesus
And you have peace
With God
And union with God
And as that starts
To grip your identity
And your self
Understanding of who you are
It starts to illuminate you
You have the security
To start to look within you
And you see the things
Within you
That have to be dealt with
And have to be changed
And it gives illumination
About how generosity
Has to have a bigger part
Of your life
Or love
Or forgiveness
And as this story
Grips you
It starts to give you
A way of seeing yourself
And identifying yourself
And understanding who you are
That creates the energy
To start to change
How you live
That's the gospel
So folks
We're going to have
One more video
To wrap this up
If you could just
Put up the final point
Though before we have
The video
Here's how
Here's
You see
The Christmas stories
Are to start
To free us
And form us
Into how we celebrate
Christmas
And this is the entire
Old Testament pattern
About how you do that
That we celebrate
By remembering with others
That's what we're doing tonight
We remember who Jesus is
And what he did for us
With others
We rejoice with others
We recommit to Jesus
With others
Well and then
Most of us
Will do this either tonight
Or tomorrow
We feast
Hopefully with others
Make sure you invite others along
And that's what we do
We come together
To remember Jesus
And as we remember Jesus
We get more and more
Gripped by it
And it starts to form us
This wonderful video
Which we'll have
In closing
It's just a wonderful
Telling of the Christmas story
And it's a wonderful
Testimony of a person
Who just realized
That even though
She was a Christian
She was finding her identity
And self
Sense of worth
In all the wrong places
And she needed to be
Once again
Just gripped by the gospel
This will be
We'll see you with this
And then we'll close in prayer
I know
It's no one's fault
That someone is born
With a disability
But then you still feel like
But why did this happen to us?
Welcome to all of you
Please take a seat
We want to now share
A nativity treat
This story of Christmas
We tell it in rhyme
Some actors have lines
While some of us mime
I was overwhelmed
With grief
At the loss
I thought
A beautiful baby
Has got down syndrome
And it's such a disaster
Meanwhile
Great Caesar
Augustus
In rhyme
Made a decree
Return to your home
For Joseph's ruling
Met Wesleyan town
So they rode on their donkey
All the way down
God didn't give me
A straightforward answer
Of why this happened
It just took time
For me to realise
God's answer was
It wasn't so much
What was wrong with Lever
As much as there was
Something wrong
With the way I was thinking
Mary was speechless
She didn't know
How these things
Could have happened
But still she bowed
I think of Mary
Of all she goes through
It's not her plan
It's God's plan
She just goes with it
She's humble
She's calm
She's reassured
By the fact
That everything's
Going to be okay
For he has remembered me
His lonely servant
From now on
All the people
Will call me happy
He has brought down
My king from the throne
And lift up the lonely
What we learnt
Was that God was with us
God suffered with us
And he gave us
The most beautiful child
And there was no reason
For me to grieve
Or compare her
Or you know
Feel sorry for her
In my old view
Before she taught me
I thought she would lack
She's not lacking
So gathered around
That we may be void
All people are welcome
To know heaven's joy
From angels to donkeys
From shepherds to kings
The little Lord Jesus
God's miracle he brings
He came to our darkness
From heaven above
He stooped to the prim
And the cross out of love
He shed in our weakness
And weakness and mess
And still he embraced us
Nevertheless
If you're feeling rejected
Exclude you to stranger
Remember the one
Who came down to the manger
That a repente
About who came into
The Skywalker
Only now
The man
I wish
The Lord
And still there
Is none
That we
Send
God's
And still there
To rest
Our
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This
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anche
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Amen.
Please stand and we'll just close this with a prayer.
Let's stand.
Father, thank you for the gift of Jesus.
Thank you that he comes down to share the mess and the complexity of our lives,
that he comes to bear the sin that we cannot deal with.
He comes to bear the shame that we cannot deal with.
He comes to deal with the accusations that we cannot deal with.
And we thank you, Father, that he deals with all of these things when he dies on the cross.
But we also thank you that, Father, his perfect life clothes us as well.
That when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, it's not just what he takes away, but what he gives us.
And we thank and praise you, Father, that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus,
he is with us every day.
And he is with us in our weakness.
And he's with us when we're anxious.
And so we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would grip us with this story of who Jesus is,
remembering that the cradle reveals what his lordship is like in our lives.
And grant us a deeper trust in him that he might form how we understand who we are and what our hope is.
And all these things we ask in the name of Jesus, your son and your savior.
Amen.