Good News of Great Joy (Afternoon)
Download MP3As Joel mentioned last week, we are actually gonna be taking a short break from our sermon series on Mark, as we walk through the season of Advent and prepare for Christmas as a church family. So tonight, we will be looking at Luke chapter 2, which is the story of Jesus's birth and the angels visit to the shepherds. But before we dive into the text, I think it's important to take a few moments to talk about why we focus on the liturgical season of Advent, as a church family. I know this might be new to some of you, just like it was to me before coming to Redeemer. So I want to try to answer the question first.
Speaker 1:What is Advent? Advent is a season of yearning for and waiting for the arrival of Christ. The term, Advent, comes from a Latin word meaning coming. Therefore, we are to understand the season of
Joel Brooks:Advent as one where we wait and one where we prepare for the
Speaker 1:coming of Christ. So one where we prepare for the coming of Christ. So during this season, our waiting can take various forms. 1st, we join with the people of God throughout history to eagerly anticipate the coming of our Messiah. You see, Advent invites you into this inception like thinking about reality, this reality inside of another reality.
Speaker 1:While we live in a time where Christ has come, Advent actually asked us to take a step back in time and to imagine what it would have been like before Christ's arrival. We imagine what it would have been like to have been waiting for 1000 of years for God to redeem his people. And we imagine what it would have been like to have had nothing but silence from God for over 400 years. This is the setting of our text today. And this is an invitation for us to experience their reality.
Speaker 1:If we can do this, it will prepare our hearts for the celebration of the incarnation on Christmas day. Because we will allow our hearts to posture themselves in a way that yearns for Christ to come. Much like Lent prepares us for the coming celebration on Easter morning, Advent is intended to prepare our hearts just as much for the rejoicing that we will do on Christmas morning. And my hope is that our time tonight ushers you into this heart posture and prepares you for the coming celebration that's coming on Christmas Day. But Advent doesn't just end on Christmas Day.
Speaker 1:Instead, it is actually the place we find ourselves every day of our lives as Christians. Because we actually believe that there is a day coming when Christ will return and when he will make all things new. And as a result, we actually live in the very same season of waiting and preparing that the people of God lived in before Jesus's arrival. Karl Barth said it this way, Adam? In this statement, he is recognizing that until the second coming of Christ, every day of our lives is a season of waiting and a season of this passage from Luke, prepares us for the celebration of Jesus birth on Christmas morning, I'm also hoping that it gives us some tools for how to live as people, who eagerly live in a season of Advent, every day as we await the coming of Christ again to restore all things and make all things new.
Speaker 1:Now, I've actually been thinking about Advent a lot lately in the past few months, but the reason might surprise you. For some of those who know me, you might be thinking it's because I look forward every year to watching Home Alone on repeat for 4 weeks straight. It might also be that you guys know how much I love watching my wife, Laura, sing at 9 lessons and carols. So you're probably thinking that's why he's been thinking about Advent so much. But that's not it.
Speaker 1:It's actually because I've been doing a lot of premarital counseling lately. Which if you've been at Redeemer for a while and you've looked around it might not surprise you. We do a lot of premarital counseling around here. As a pastor, it's actually one of my favorite things to do, because I get to walk with them through the season of preparing for marriage. But even as important, I get to walk with them through the season of engagement.
Speaker 1:And because of this, during our sessions, I almost always ask this question. How's engagement going? And the most common response that I get is this, We are so excited to get married, but this season of waiting has been really tough. Maybe it's the wedding planning. Maybe it's the really hard conversations they've been having with their family.
Speaker 1:And maybe it's actually just the fight they got into on the way to Premarital Counseling. But regardless, it's frequent that I hear that the season of engagement has been tough. And the greatest challenge of all, for most of them, is the challenge of waiting. They just want the wedding day to be here as soon as possible, but it's not here yet. Instead, they find themselves in this sort of purgatory before they get married.
Speaker 1:And they are in the season of waiting and preparing, and this can be challenging. But once we get to this point, I really think we have something to work with. Because instead of looking at it as this delay of the inevitable, I try to encourage these couples to see it as a gift from God. You see, if they can look at it the right way, they can see engagement through the same lens that we're trying to look at Advent tonight. Because engagement, just like Advent, there are seasons where we are invited to slow down and to wait for the coming celebration.
Speaker 1:And each day that we wait, the excitement builds. Each day that we mark off the calendar builds the anticipation of the day to come. And each day is an opportunity to repair, so that you're all the more ready when the day finally gets here. And this is what I hope we can do tonight. I want to invite you to look at Advent, at this very evening, as an opportunity to prepare for Christmas by entering into the longing, dare I say, the darkness that existed before Christ's arrival, and to imagine what it might have been like to wait with desperation for the coming of your Messiah.
Speaker 1:And with this, I invite you to read with me the text for tonight. It comes from Luke chapter 2 verses 1 through 20. It can be found in your Worship God. Our text says this, 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.
Speaker 1: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 while they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and lied him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 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.
Speaker 1:And they were filled with great fear. 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. 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 swallowing cloths and laying in a manger.
Speaker 1:And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angel went away from them into heaven, the shepherd 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 baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told to them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
Speaker 1:But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them. This is the word of the Lord. Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would open our eyes to the truth of your gospel tonight.
Speaker 1:And like the people of God throughout history, you would teach us to wait with anticipation for your coming. May you help us to be better prepared for your arrival on Christmas morning, and may it build our anticipation for the day when you will come again. We pray that you'd receive all the honor and glory and praise in our time together tonight. We pray this in the name of your son Jesus Christ. Amen.
Speaker 1:Now, from the onset of looking at this passage, we see that there are 2 different stories coming together to give us a picture of the birth of Christ and to help us understand its significance. The first is that of Mary and Joseph and their journey to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. And the second is the story of the shepherds, who were visited by angels to announce the birth of Jesus. Let's begin by looking at the story of Mary and Joseph. Because here, we'll if you remember, Joel actually talked about this passage last week, when he talked about an Angel of the Lord visiting Mary.
Speaker 1:And he had told her, though she is a virgin, she would become pregnant, and that her baby would be the Son of God. What a scene we talked about last week. As we looked at this story, I know what you were probably thinking. I can't wait to see how this story plays out. If this is how Mary learns about her pregnancy, how special and glorious must the day of the birth be?
Speaker 1:After all, the angels said that this child will sit on the throne of David, and his kingdom will have no end. So as we get to chapter 2, and we learn about the birth of Jesus, it's easy for us to expect a triumphal entry into the world. There will obviously be fireworks and there'll be celebrations fit for royalty. Right? But just as we read, that's not what took place at all.
Speaker 1:Instead, Jesus comes into this world in the most humble of ways. In verses 1 through 5, the story begins by setting the stage for where Jesus was born and the reasoning behind it. Luke tells us these details because he is on a particular mission. He said in the first few verses of his letter, that he is attempting to compile a narrative of the life of Jesus from an eyewitness level. So the reader might have certainty concerning the life of Jesus and the things that are being taught.
Speaker 1:This is why Luke gives us these following details. He says, There was a census ordered by Caesar Augustus during this time. And this was a census that was being used to register everyone for the purposes of taxes. And each person was instructed to return to the location of their family of origin. Basically, they were to go to their ancestral hometown.
Speaker 1:And since Joseph was from the House of David, he had to return to Bethlehem. Now, if you're anything like me, you probably associate David most closely with the city of Jerusalem. But we read in 1st Samuel 16 that David and his family were actually from Bethlehem, a small village just outside Jerusalem. So this is how the story begins. Mary, who was very pregnant, and Joseph journeying from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register for the census.
Speaker 1:This must have been a difficult trip. As we learn in the next few verses, Mary was about to have this baby. And the trip from Nazareth must have been grueling. I'm sure Mary was looking at the family calendar as this was approaching going, there's got to be some way to get out of this. Isn't there some kind of exception for pregnancy?
Speaker 1:I bet she's even thinking there's got to be some kind of cosmic mistake going on here. Why would we be traveling so far away from our home the days before our baby would arrive? And while it might feel completely out of left field that God would take Mary and Joseph away from their home just days before the birth of Jesus, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the events leading up to their trip to Bethlehem actually give us a window into the power and the sovereignty of God. You see, while Bethlehem might seem like a random place for Jesus to be born, it's in fact the exact place where He would be born.
Speaker 1:And this had been prophesied over 400 years before. As we read, in the opening scripture from Micah chapter 5, it says this. It says, But you, oh Bethlehem, who were too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. What I hope we see is that this is just the beginning of Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament promises about himself. This is one of the first glimpses that we get that Jesus would be the promised Messiah.
Speaker 1:And as we work our way through this text, I hope you will see that this story and this season of Advent have a very clear thread tying them together. It's this: That God is in the business of keeping his promises. And since he said that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, that's exactly where he was born. And God was capable of controlling kings and rulers in the events of human history to ensure that his promises and the prophecies of the Old Testament would come to fruition. And I hope this seemingly small detail in this story brings even greater confidence in each of your minds that God will keep the promises that he's made to you.
Speaker 1:Now, in the next few verses of this section, Luke gives his description of Jesus's birth. Absolute bare minimum of details. It reminds me of our elder Slack thread that is where we announce babies being born at Redeemer. On the best of days, you're gonna get a picture with maybe a name and the weight of the baby. But on most days, we just see a message that says, so and so had a baby exclamation mark.
Speaker 1:And this is what this passage actually feels like to me. When we read it, read it in verse 6. It says, and while they were there, the time came for him to give birth for her to give birth. 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. There are obviously a few helpful details here, but it certainly doesn't line up with the birth narrative that I was expecting last week when we heard the message from the angel Gabriel.
Speaker 1:What we do learn though, is that the city of Bethlehem was so full that they couldn't even find a place to stay. Not even married with Mary being so pregnant. This means that they had to stay in the best place that they could find, which was just a stable for animals. And it's here that Mary gives birth to the son of God. And once he is born, they laid him in a manger.
Speaker 1:And that's it. That's what we have from Luke on the birth of Jesus. If the story were to end here, I think we would all be left thinking, how come he didn't give us more? We get 2 sentences to describe the coming of the Son of God into the world. Something seems off here.
Speaker 1:But as we'll see, that's not the end of the story for Luke. It's actually just the beginning. Jesus is actually going to get the recognition and the celebration that he deserves, but it will come through a story about the least likely of characters. Some shepherds tending to their flocks, just outside the city. Look with me at verse 8.
Speaker 1:Verse 8 says, and in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. As we look at this passage during the Advent season, I think it's important that we stop here. It's in one one short sentence that Luke sets the stage for one of the most significant announcements in human history. We read that there was a group of shepherds, and they were out in the fields, and they were sitting in the dark of night. Picture this moment with me.
Speaker 1:Picture the quiet. And I really want you to picture the darkness. Have you ever experienced a moment like this? Have you ever been in a situation where you felt the pitch black darkness like the night that they must have been in? I've experienced this a few times in my life, but the most recent was actually on a trip to Wyoming just a few months ago.
Speaker 1:If you've ever been there, which I hadn't, you will know that Wyoming is big. It's vast. And I was amazed at how much land there was and how few people. In fact, it's crazy. The entire state has fewer people than the city of Birmingham, but it has so much more land.
Speaker 1:So when you're out there, you feel the bigness of the world and you recognize how small you really are. And you really, really feel this at night. I remember one night, we were outside, and we were talking about how dark it was with no light pollution around. And someone told me just to look up at the sky. I can't even begin to explain to you how many stars you could see, and it was truly breathtaking.
Speaker 1:We did what I'm guessing most of you would do in a moment like that. We pointed our phones in the sky, and we took a long exposure picture so we could put it on Instagram. But then after that, we sat still, and we laid on our backs, and we just stared in
Joel Brooks:the vast darkness with amazement.
Speaker 1:And this is what I imagine the setting being like for the shepherds. It's dark outside. And unlike the tourists that I proved myself to be, they don't have cell phones, and they probably aren't even thinking how to describe this night to anyone else. In fact, they had been in this very place in dark nights just like these their whole lives. And they were expecting tonight to be just like any other.
Speaker 1:They were used to the dark, and they didn't think anything about it. During the season of Advent, I think it's important that we stop here for a moment in the dark because Advent actually begins in the dark. It's a season where you were invited to slow down and to reflect on the darkness as you wait for the light that will come at the arrival of Christ. And to be honest, this might not be very hard for many of us. If you're anything like me, you have felt
Joel Brooks:the darkness all around you recently.
Speaker 1:No. I'm not necessarily talking about literal darkness, because in fact, in December, it seems like there's not very many dark places. There are Christmas lights shining in our faces, and they're telling us everything is bright, and everything is wonderful all the time. But we know that's not true. There's so
Joel Brooks:much darkness around us right now in
Speaker 1:the form of pain and brokenness. While that might not be something that you want to think about as Christmas gets closer, I actually think this is the exact place for us to talk about it, because it's into the very darkness that God wants to point you to his promises and the hope that we have in Christ. So I want to ask, have you ever felt the darkness of the world surrounding you? Have you ever wanted to scream, where are you, God? Won't you do something?
Speaker 1:I know I have. In fact, this has been a really tough week for our church. We've lost a member of our family, and I was in a funeral this Friday and all I could think was, come Lord Jesus. In fact, this prayer, come, Lord Jesus, has been the refrain of our elders for many years now. Because while there are many joys about being a pastor, there's also some occupational challenges that come with it.
Speaker 1:And one of those challenges is that you are constantly confronted with the pain and the brokenness of this world. And it's often that all you can do is cry, Come, Lord Jesus. And this was the refrain of the people of God in the time of our text today. The people of God had been promised that a Messiah would come and liberate them. They've been told of God's commitment to preserving his people.
Speaker 1:They knew the promises that God had made to Abraham and David, and they knew that God had said he would rescue them. But right now, at this point in history, all they could hear was silence from God. And all they could see was darkness. As we slow down this Advent season, we are not asked to push away this darkness. We are not asked to distract ourselves with eggnog and purchasing gifts online.
Speaker 1:Instead, we're encouraged to embrace the darkness and to step into the shoes of the people of God throughout history, who anxiously anticipated and pleaded for the coming of the Messiah. So as you think about the darkness around you, I would encourage you to join me in saying, come Lord Jesus. For we will see in the remainder of the passage that he surely will come. He has come once and he will surely come again. But sitting in the darkness, we are all the more overcome later when the light arrives.
Speaker 1:And this is exactly what takes place in our text today. If you will look with me at verses 9 through 12. It says this, 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. 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.
Speaker 1:It's here that we get the story of the 3rd visit from an angel in the first two chapters of Luke. And this one is the most magnificent of them all. We read that an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and the glory of the Lord shown around them. Returning to my story about being outside in the vast darkness, have you ever been in a similar situation, but unexpectedly had someone shine a light in your face? Can you experience how how jarring it is?
Speaker 1:And even if you haven't experienced that, you've probably been in a setting where it's in the dark, and someone's about to take a picture of you. They think it's gonna be this, like, low light, moody picture, and instead, they flash you in the face. I know we've all felt that. How does it feel? It feels jarring.
Speaker 1:It's surprising. It can also make you feel stunned or disoriented. Can you imagine how these shepherds must have felt when they were sitting in the dark of night and the glory of the Lord shown around them. I can't even imagine. To be honest, I keep thinking about the scene in Christmas Vacation, you know, where Clark is trying to get the lights to turn on in his roof.
Speaker 1:And they finally turn on, and they shine bright into the neighbor's yard house. And all they can do is stumble around. It's this sudden blast of light that causes them to be disoriented. But this was no ordinary Christmas light situation. This was the Shekinah glory of God.
Speaker 1:This was the very same light of the glory of God that shined on Moses in Exodus 34, when God passed before him and he shined for days. This was the same glory that dwelled in the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. And this is the same glory that was shown to Isaiah when he was given a vision of the throne of God. And in each of these instances, the glory of the Lord was cause for great fear. In fact, Isaiah says in chapter 6, after seeing the glory of the Lord, he says this, woe is me, for I am lost, for I'm a man of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
Speaker 1:And This is the response of the shepherds. They're filled with great fear in this moment But the good news is that the angel of Lord addresses this fear head on and provides some of the most comforting words declared in human history This is the good news of the Christmas story and this is the good news of the gospel. Look with me at 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.
Speaker 1:The angel begins by saying, fear not. Much much like the messages of the angels in the stories of Zechariah and Mary, the angel of the Lord recognizes that the shepherds were struck with great fear. And while we might read this as a statement from the angels saying to them, chill out or or calm down. It's actually a much bigger statement than that. It's one that is intended to go down to the core of their human existence.
Speaker 1:What we learn throughout scripture is that where the glory of the of God shines, it exposes the darkness of the human condition. But it is also the very same place that he meets us with comfort and salvation. And this is exactly what we see in Luke chapter 2. As the darkness of the world and of the hearts of the shepherds is exposed by the glory of the Lord, in that very moment, God meets them with comfort. So what is this comfort?
Speaker 1:Who is this comforter? The answer lies in 10 and 11. 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. This first states that the Angel had good news that will be for all the people.
Speaker 1:And this term for good news is actually the word where we get the term gospel. The Angel is saying, fear not, for I have good news. I have the message of the gospel. Born today is a baby, and this baby is your savior. He is Christ the Lord.
Speaker 1:In this gospel proclamation, we get three terms for Jesus that are important in our
Joel Brooks:understanding of this passage.
Speaker 1:The angel says that the baby born on the angel says that the baby born on this Christmas day would be Savior. That he would be Christ. And that he would be Lord. And each of these terms give us a glimpse into the role that Jesus will play well on earth. And they give us a better understanding of why the angels believe that this was a moment for joy and a moment for celebration.
Speaker 1:So look with me at these three titles for Jesus. First, the angel refers to Jesus as Savior. It's in this title that we come to understand that the little baby lying in a manger will end up being the great deliverer of the people of God foretold in the Old Testament. In Zechariah's prophecy from chapter 1, we learned that this child will bring Salvation to his people in the forgiveness of sins. This is the message of the gospel declared to the shepherds.
Speaker 1:The angel is saying, I know that the light of the glory of the Lord has exposed your sin and your brokenness. But fear not, because today, a child is born who will bring salvation. He will bring the forgiveness of your sins. And this is an important message for us today. We too are like the shepherds.
Speaker 1:We walk in the darkness of our sins, in the darkness of the world around us. And we are in need of a savior. We are in need of someone to come into this world and do what we were unable to do to save us. And this is what the angel has declared to us today, just as it was declared to the shepherds. So hear the angels saying this to you tonight.
Speaker 1:Fear not. Though your sins are many, Jesus has come into the world to do what you couldn't do for yourself. He has come to save you from your sins. If we hear nothing else tonight, I hope we hear this clear message of the gospel. God saw us for who we are.
Speaker 1:And rather than condemning us, he sent his son into the world to save us and to die for us. John 3 16 through 17 states this, For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. This is why the Angel of the Lord declares that the baby born today will be your savior. And this is why the whole multitude of Angels follows it up by praising and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
Speaker 1:But that's not the only thing that we learn about this baby in this passage. The Angel of the Lord also calls Jesus the Christ, which is the same word as Messiah, meaning anointed one. So with this title, the Angel is saying that the Messiah you have been waiting for so long for has finally arrived. Jesus is the chosen Messiah who had been foretold throughout the Old Testament. And the one that the prophecies of the prophets had declared and predicted for 1000 of years.
Speaker 1:The angel is saying this, the wait is finally over. The Messiah has arrived. And this is cause for rejoicing. And finally, the angel provides the most important title of all, Lord. It's in this proclamation of the gospel to the shepherds that we get the most shocking news of all.
Speaker 1:The little baby lying in a manger in Bethlehem was not only the promised Messiah, and He was not only the Savior who would rescue God's people. He is also Lord. God Himself made flesh. This is the most shocking part of the Christmas story. And my hope is that as we walk the path of Advent and contemplate the darkness, that this news would shock us all the more.
Speaker 1:God so loved the world. He so loved you that He sent His Son into the world. This baby that we wait for is God himself. He saw the brokenness, and he loved us enough to come into this world and to redeem it. So much like the Christmas story, many of us are used to hearing this.
Speaker 1:You're used to hearing it so much that it goes in one ear and out the other. But tonight I want to invite you to think on this news as Mary and the shepherds might have. Thinking about hearing this for the very first time, what would you have thought? And how would you have responded? In the last few verses of our passage for tonight, we get the answer to how Mary and the shepherds responded.
Speaker 1:We read in verse 1516 that immediately after this, that the shepherds went with haste. They went to visit the baby and to make known the sayings of the angels. I love this. After such a marvelous revelation, their natural response was to celebrate by telling everyone that they knew and by praising God. Basically, they responded by sharing the gospel and worshiping.
Speaker 1:I hope that we will do the same. I hope that this gospel message would be on our lips this entire Advent season and that it would lead us to worship and celebrate our coming King in such a way that others would be in awe of the greatness of our God. And finally, I hope we would respond like Mary, who treasured and pondered all that she heard. This is the invitation of Advent. We are given the opportunity to slow down, to ponder, and to treasure the Christmas story.
Speaker 1:So as we leave here tonight, I want to invite you to do the same. My hope is that we will take Advent seriously over the next few weeks And that we will think deeply about our need for Jesus. And that we would genuinely yearn for his arrival. My hope is that as we practice waiting on the arrival of our Savior, that we would be led to worship him all the more on Christmas morning. And that we would learn to be awaiting people.
Speaker 1:A people who desperately wait and prepare for the day when Christ will come again and will He will once and for all defeat the darkness. Let us believe the good news of the gospel. This baby that we eagerly anticipate tonight is our Savior. He is Christ the Lord. And he will come again to reconcile all things to himself and to redeem this earth.
Speaker 1:We are a people who live in a season between these 2 Advents. And we yearn for the day when He will come again. As we wait for that day to come, I would invite you to join me with the constant refrain of Advent, saying, come, Lord Jesus. Please pray with me. Dear Lord, this Advent season, would you teach us to long for your arrival?
Speaker 1:Would you remind us of our need for you? And would you cause us through your Spirit to worship with new eyes and a fresh perspective on Christmas morning? We pray this would be our posture all year long, as we anticipate and await your second coming. We long for the day when you will come again. So come, Lord Jesus, we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen.
