Good morning, everyone. Great to be at church with you this morning. My name is Steve, the senior pastor here.
And if you've got your Bibles open there, that'd be fantastic.
And I'll take a quick look at that passage, which is in front of us in Luke chapter 2.
I read an article this morning by a journalist who said that we are drawing the curtain on 2023 as we celebrate Christmas.
And it's a year that you really, that you could only really describe as bizarro year.
A year of great uncertainty and turmoil.
They went on and listed a whole heap of things that would classify as unusual, bizarre things that governments around the world are doing.
But also very mindful of a, we're closing the year at a time of great turmoil.
It's not far from our minds, conflicts in the Middle East, but also in Ukraine and Russia.
There have been tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of lives that have been lost in these conflicts.
Communities fractured, people stricken in life.
And they're just two of the big ones in terms of conflicts that are in the media in our world in this last year.
In 2023 alone, there were 114 wars globally.
We just really hear about two of them.
114.
The definition of a war is an active conflict where over 1,000 lives have lost.
And there's been 114 of them in this world this year.
Of the past 3,400 years of recorded history, there has only been 268 years war-free.
268 years with no recorded war.
That is a meagre 8% of recorded history.
That's all.
For those who think that religion is to blame for that, of all those recorded wars in history,
less than 7% have anything to do with religion.
Less than 7%.
In more recent history, from 1945 to 2015,
there were only 26 days of no recorded war somewhere in the world.
26 days.
So what are we to make then of the message that we just heard?
From Luke chapter 2.
From 2,000 years ago.
That at the heart of Christmas,
which half of the world's population is celebrating right now,
what are we to make of the promise of peace?
It was right there.
Verse 14.
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.
Peace.
That's something that we desire.
We desire peace in our relationships.
Our world is in desperate need for peace.
And frankly,
many of us would love peace deep inside of our hearts,
in the recesses of our hearts.
We're in turmoil and conflict with ourselves.
And the Bible promises peace,
and that's the reason for Christmas, we are told.
To bring peace to humanity.
So what is this peace that the birth of Jesus promises,
and how do we get it?
That's the three things I kind of want to, you know,
tackle this morning really briefly.
Say three things.
I want to treasure the message of Christmas,
and when we do, we find peace,
and when we find peace, we start to live fearlessly.
They're the three things I want to do
as we look at Luke 2 this morning.
So first of all,
treasuring the message of Christmas.
Really hearing the Christmas story
isn't easy to do when you've heard it so, so many times.
I mean, so many times.
There is an over-familiarity to the story of Christmas,
and to hear well, we know,
is the important thing in life.
Not just important in this passage.
We are told here that the shepherds
were told something by the angels.
Then they went and saw
that it was as they were told.
Then we are told in verse 17
that when they saw Jesus,
they then went and spread the word
about everything that they had heard about Jesus.
Verse 18 we read,
And all who heard it
were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
And there is an even deeper hearing.
In verse 19, it says,
Mary treasured up all these things
and pondered them in her heart.
This is more than just merely hearing some news.
You know, we all hear news every day
and on the most part,
it has no impact on us at all.
Those with children
know the experience of telling them something
and it's not being followed through with.
Probably those with husbands as well.
Did we hear the information?
Did they hear the information?
Yes.
Heard the information?
Did it get our attention?
Do we think through the implications?
I mean, really understand
of what we were told?
Well, on the most part, no.
The first thing we are told here
is that God speaks to and through the ordinary.
The shepherds get an angel
and everyone else gets a shepherd.
Just ordinary, low-class,
first-century shepherds.
Secondly, we are told
that Mary is a model for us
on how to hear.
She heard the news from the angel
and then she hears the news
from the shepherds.
And we are told she treasures it.
She ponders in her heart
what she has just heard.
The word ponder here
means to put into context,
to think it through,
to make the connections
between what I'm hearing
and the rest of my life.
How does it explain my life?
What does it mean for the way I'm living?
It is focused mental discipline.
Treasuring is also a little bit more emotional
than just mere study.
It means to keep this news alive.
It is to keep the fire burning,
to relish it,
to savor it,
turn it over and over
and get in my mind
heart
to see how it connects
with my life.
That is,
what we are told here
is Mary doesn't
just know the news
of the arrival of God intellectually.
She fans the flame of it
in her heart
by pondering it again
and again
and making connections
in the rest of her life.
She takes this news
into the centre
of her being
until it means
everything to her.
This hearing that she has
is an attitude
of the heart.
We shouldn't underestimate
our ability
to hear
and also
not to hear
the good news
of Christmas.
We don't really want
to be like the crowd
who just marvels
at this birth.
We want to be like Mary
and ponder
and treasure
the good news of Jesus
and the reason is
is because when we do hear well
we discover
the remarkable promise
of peace.
Have a look at it there
if you've got your Bibles
verses 13 and 14.
Suddenly
a great company
of the heavenly hosts
appeared with the angel
praising God
and saying
glory to God
in the highest heaven
and on earth
peace to those
on whom
his favour rests.
It's a very
specific
promise
of peace.
It's peace
for those
to whom
God's grace
and favour
and mercy
rest.
On the surface
it looks like
well this is just
a promise
for a select group
of people.
That's all this is.
But you have to read it
in the light
of verse 10.
The angels
said to them
do not be afraid
I bring you
good news
that will cause
great joy
for all
people.
Today
in the town
of David
a saviour
has been born
to you
he is the
Messiah
the Lord.
So what
Luke
the writer
of this
the recorder
of this biography
is saying here
is that one of the
great benefits
secrets of grasping
the good news
about God's grace
to us in Jesus
Christ
at Christmas
is that you now
have peace with God.
That's crucial.
That is so crucial
because one of the
great
and important
themes
of the
New Testament
is that
before we embrace
God's grace
grace and mercy
we are
in fact
at war
with him.
Most people
don't believe
that.
Most people
have not grasped
that aspect
of the Christmas
story.
Many would say
that they just
don't simply
don't believe
in God
or that they
are indifferent
to God.
Hardly
anyone
wanders around
and says
I'm hostile
towards God.
I'm in
open conflict
with him.
And yet
the New Testament
puts it like that.
It says
the mind
governed by
the flesh
is hostile
to God.
It does
not submit
to God.
That is
at the heart
of Christianity
before it's
great news
of God's love
is the
reality
of open
warfare
against God.
Our
relationship
with God
is not
disbelief
and indifference
it's actually
hostility
towards him.
And let me
just be clear
this is for
both the
religious person
and the
irreligious
person.
Open
hostility
overtly
asserting
our independence
from our
creator.
Both the
religious
and the
irreligious
are openly
declaring
they want
to live
life
their way.
The
religious
person
covertly
asserts
their
independence
from God.
You know
they do
religious
activities
you know
they turn
up to
church
they read
the Bible
they pray
try and
follow the
Ten Commandments
that kind
of stuff
try to be
a good
person
with the
expectation
that it
wins God's
favour towards
them in some
way.
It's an
attempt to
control
my life
and my
relationship
with God.
It's a
declaration that
I ultimately
do not
trust God.
No matter
who we are
in our
nature we
are hostile
to God
and particularly
in the
western world
we are
committed to
the idea
that we
will only
ever be
truly
deeply
happy
if we
are in
charge
of our
own
lives.
The
mark of a
real Christian
is that they
come to see
the hostility.
They've seen
not only that
they have done
wrong things
but even
the right
things that
they've done
have been
done for the
wrong reasons
the wrong
motives.
Christmas
is the
beginning of
what God
does for us
through Jesus
Christ to
initiate a
peace treaty.
God's grace
to us and
peace go
together.
Those who
grasp the
grace of
God are
those who
have peace
with God
and at the
very least
it means
Christmas
sorry at the
very least it
means that for
Christians we
ought to be
peacemakers.
At the
very least
peacemakers
are people
who have
admitted their
wrongs, their
flaws, their
hostility towards
God, they
have swallowed
their pride, they
have surrendered
to their God,
they've accepted
his grace and
his goodness and
they've found
peace with him.
And when that
happens between
you and God
it means that you
actually go out
into a world and
you do it with
others.
A
Christian
is someone
who knows
how to admit
that they are
wrong,
how to
forgive,
how to
reconcile
because that
is what God
has done for
them.
And we
become peacemakers
between races
and classes,
family members,
neighbours,
colleagues.
Peace comes
to those who
grasp God's
grace and
threw them
to the
world.
So,
treasure the
message,
discover the
peace,
and thirdly,
being at peace
with God
leads to
fearless living.
I get that
from verses
8 and 10,
have a look
at it.
Those,
sorry,
there were
shepherds
living out in
the fields
nearby,
keeping watch
over their
flocks at
night.
An angel of
the Lord
appeared to
them and
the glory
of the Lord
shone around
them and
they were
terrified.
But the
angel said
to them,
do not
be afraid,
I bring
you good
news that
will cause
great joy
for all
people.
The
shepherds
were terrified.
Angels
tell them,
don't be
afraid,
because I
bring you
good news.
That's the
reason why
you shouldn't
be afraid,
because I've
got good
news for
you.
Embracing
the good
news of
Christmas
means that
we can
be at
peace and
we can
live
fearlessly.
You see,
what normally
happens in
the Bible
is that
when God
shows up,
people are
terrified.
First time
it ever
happened was
in the
Garden of
Eden with
Adam and
Eve.
After they
sinned,
before sin
was in the
picture,
before there
was hostility
with God,
there was
no fear.
When we
have perfect
relationship
with God,
there is no
fear in
life.
that's so
crucial as
we come to
the end of
2023,
because most
of us come
to Christmas
living lives
of some
element of
fear and
anxiety.
The fear of
rejection,
the fear of
failure,
the fear of
bad things
happening,
the fear of
the future,
the fear of
death.
We live
each day
trying to
earn our
self-worth
and people's
respect,
and if we
don't constantly
get affirmation
and love from
people,
we just
die inside.
We are
slaves to
our performance
and other
people's
perceptions of
us.
It's a life
of fear,
knowing that
ultimately we
cannot control
our lives.
Deep down
in the
recesses of
our hearts,
we are in
conflict with
ourselves.
It's hard
enough trying
to manage
other people's
perception of
us,
let alone
our own
perceptions
of us.
Every time
something
unexpected
happens to
us,
it's just
another
reminder
that we
are not
in
control.
We're
especially
afraid of
death.
In death,
we lose
absolutely
everything.
We are
filled with
fear,
but we
fill our
lives with
distractions in
order to not
think about
it.
Distractions
so that we
can't listen
well to
the good
news and
find peace.
We are
our own
masters and
we are
unqualified
for the
job.
And when
push comes
to shove,
we know
it.
We have
taken God's
crown and
placed it
in our own
heads, so
to speak,
and we
are way
over our
heads.
We are
usurposed
to a
throne that
we don't
deserve, nor
are qualified
for, and
on the first
Christmas, the
real king
turned up, and
we are
terrified.
His beauty
shows us
our
ugliness.
His power
shows us
our impotence.
His light
shows us
our darkness.
us.
And yet
his grace
to us
shows us
the solution.
Verse 11,
again, a
saviour has
been born
to you.
He is the
Messiah, the
Lord.
He is the
saviour of
the human
race.
To have
peace and
to live
fearlessly, we
need to
abandon
every form
of self
salvation and
rest in his
salvation.
The baby
born in the
manger, we
are told
here in
verse 11, is
the Lord.
And the
word Lord
there in the
original language
is a direct
translation from
the Hebrew
word Yahweh.
Yahweh.
It's a
significant word.
It's the
covenant name
of God in
the Old
Testament.
The baby
born in the
manger is not
just a saviour
or a sage.
He is the
creator of
the universe.
That's what
that word
Lord means.
If the
God who
made all
things is
prepared to
humble himself
and to
come to
earth, for
us he is
trustworthy.
Is that
plausible?
way back in
1961, the
Soviet Union
put a man
in space for
the first
time.
27-year-old
Yuri Gagarin
orbited the
earth for
about 90
minutes, an
hour and a
half, something
like that.
When he
came back to
earth, the
head of the
Soviet Union at
time, Nikita
Khrushchev, said
that we have
sent someone
into space and
we did not
find God.
God does not
exist.
There's no God
up there.
The Oxford
scholar C.S.
Lewis read
that and
fired off an
article in
response called
the seeing
eye.
This is part
of what he
wrote.
The Russians, I
am told, report
that they have
not found God
in outer space.
Looking for
God or
heaven by
exploring space
is like reading
or seeing all
of Shakespeare's
plays in the
hope that you'll
find Shakespeare
as one of the
characters.
Shakespeare is
in one sense
present at
every moment
in every one
of his plays.
But he's
never present
in the same
way that
Princess Hamlet
is.
My point is
that if God
does exist,
he is related
to the universe
more as an
author is
related to a
play than as
one object in
the universe is
related to another
object in the
universe.
He went on to
ask the question,
how then do we
find God or
also avoid
God?
He first
answered how
we avoid
God and
maybe at
the end of
this crazy
year of 2023
this might be
a pertinent
message for
you.
He says,
avoid silence.
This is how to
avoid God.
Avoid silence,
avoid solitude,
concentrate on
money, sex,
status, health,
and your own
grievances.
Keep the radio
turned on or
the television or
YouTube or
whatever it is
he might have
said if he was
existing right
now.
Live in a
crowd.
Use plenty of
sedation.
If you must
read books,
select those
books very
carefully, but
you'd be better
off just to
stick with the
newspapers.
To some,
God is
discoverable
everywhere.
To others,
nowhere.
It depends
on the
attitude of
your heart.
And I
would add it
would depend
on the
level of
hostility that
you have
towards God.
Lewis went
on to write
that he had
less advice on
how to find
God, he
said because it
was God who
came to find
us on the
very first
Christmas.
His point
was that the
only way to
know God who
made everything
is if this
God writes
himself into
his own
story, as a
character in
his own story.
It's the only
way that we
would ever know
him.
If he chooses
to write himself
into the history
of the world
that he has
made, and
that is what
C.S.
Lewis says,
is the claim
of Christian,
the claim of
Christmas.
It's the
infinitely wonderful
moment of
Christmas, that
God writes
himself into
his own
story.
It means
that God
looks at the
world that he
created, he
could see the
terrible trouble
that humanity
was in, the
hostility, the
chaos, the
conflict, the
war, both
externally and
internally, and
he wrote
himself into the
history as
Jesus Christ, the
saviour of the
world.
And he
didn't come
simply to
embrace us, but
to take our
hostility upon
himself and to
die for us.
He lost his
peace so that
we can have
peace forever.
And so I'm not
sure what 2023
has been like
for you.
Many people are
claiming it's the
hope, the year
that they hope
never to revisit.
Look to
Christmas at the
end of the year
and find peace.
To the degree
that we grab
hold of the
good news and
ponder it and
treasure it and
play it over, to
the degree that
our fears will
diminish and
peace will rise
in our hearts.
What's your
next step?
Maybe it might
be just to
wander across,
literally take
your next step
and wander across
the atrium in
church here and
you'll find some
free resources such
as the case for
Christmas.
Is Christmas
believable?
Christmas uncut?
First part, maybe
it might be simply
this Christmas
season to grow a
bit of quietness
and a bit of
solitude and
ponder the
message.
Merry Christmas.