Merry Christmas!
2022-12-25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLUI3WavHDI

Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

We're going to get started. Our service is going to be a little bit different, but it'll still be good. We're going to be singing three songs this morning without stop, and if you want to sit at any point, you should do that or stand, whatever you want to do. The kids are going to be lighting the candle today, or the candles today. We are going to have our prayer time, and then we're going to sing again, and then Brandon will preach, and then we'll have our communion after service today. So let's go ahead and stand, and we're going to be reading out. Oh, and Merry Christmas, by the way. It doesn't feel like Christmas. It's weird. But we're going to be reading together out of Isaiah, chapter 9, verses 6 through 7. And it says, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it, with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. God, we thank you so much that we're able to gather here today and we're able to celebrate your son's birth and what that means for all of us. And we thank you so much for the promises of how what you have established, there will be no end to it, of peace and hope and love and joy and grace and mercy. And we thank you again for those that are watching online. And thank you for just being able to get together and to worship you. Be with our service today and allow it to glorify you. In Jesus name. Amen.

All right. So we're going to be singing Christmas songs. And the first one we're going to be singing is "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." We need to push a button. There we go. There we go. Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild. God and sinners reconciled. Joyful on ye nations rise. Join the triumph of the skies. With the angelic hosts proclaim. Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Glory to the newborn King. Christ by highest heaven adored. Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold Him come. Offspring of a virgin's womb. Veil in flesh the God has seen. Hail the incarnate Deity. Pleases man with man to dwell. Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn King. Hail the heavenborn Prince of Peace. Hail the Son of Righteousness. Light and life to all He brings. Risen with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory fly. Born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give them second birth. Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn King. Joy to the world, the Lord is. Let earth sing. Let every heart prepare for the love of God. Let the earth sing. Let every heart prepare for the love of God. Let every heart prepare for the love of God. Let every heart prepare for the love of God. Let every heart prepare for the love of God. Let every heart prepare for the love of God. Let every heart prepare for the love of God. Let every heart prepare for the love of God. Let every heart prepare Him room. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns. Let all their songs employ. Wild fields and floods. Rocks, hills and plants. Repeat the sound in joy. Repeat the sound in joy. He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness. And wonders of His love. And wonders of His love. And wonders, and wonders of His love. Alright. Here we go.

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see lie. Above my deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. Yet in my dark streets shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and fears over years are less in these two nights. For Christ is born of Mary and gathered all above. While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wandering love. O morning stars together proclaim the holy birth. And praises sing to God the King and peace to men on earth. O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter. Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings tell. O come to us, abide with us, O Lord Emmanuel. All right, you may be seated. Russell's not here today, so I have to do prayer time. So, Susan has the flu. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Let's pray. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Let's pray. God bless you. That's what we are doing. I'm going to take a moment to give you a break. I'm going to take a moment to give you a break. I'm going to take a moment to give you a break. We're going to be singing, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."

Come, O Come, Emmanuel, ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. O come, thou rod of Jesse, free. Thine own from Satan's tyranny. From depths of hell thy people save. And give them victory, O Lord the great. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer Our spirits by Thine Advertir. Disperse the purity clouds of night And death's dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to Thee, O Israel.

This morning's reading is from Luke. 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 register, 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 clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about 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. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased." This is the word of the Lord. Praise be to God. All right, I am using a new Bible this morning, so things go very badly for me, as I'm a creature of habit. The nice thing about this is that I can actually read

the words that are on the page, so I'm not just guessing. And so we're going to be in the Word of God in just a moment. Before we do, let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus, for his coming to save us. We thank a God who keeps his promises, a God who comes close to us, and a God who comes to save us. And so this morning, as we direct our thoughts to the incarnation of your Son, would you fill us with joy in a world that's filled with so much heaviness and brokenness and anger that you would show us the peace of your Son. Thank you for Jesus and for grace. It's in his name we pray. Amen. So, this time of year, probably most of us have spent some time at least wrapping presents,

and I felt personally attacked a day or so ago because one of our friends sent us this picture, and it showed a guy who had wrapped a turkey leg beautifully in bacon, and then it showed how he wrapped a Christmas present. And the two were very, very different, right? The turkey leg wrapped in bacon was beautiful, it was precise, and the present, you just kind of wrap the paper around, tape down the ends, and you're good to go. And I felt personally attacked by that because I feel like one of my spiritual gifts is being able to wrap things in bacon. However, I am not very gifted when it comes to wrapping things in paper. And by the grace of God, this year I only had to wrap one present, and it took me three tries, and I did a terrible job,

and I used an entire thing of tape. It was just, it was a tragedy all around. And so when Rachel, we were having coffee the other morning, she said, "Hey, last night after I went to sleep, I wrapped all of the presents." For me, that was good news of great joy, right? Because it was the one thing that frustrates me that I do not do well with. And to hear those words that it's all done was a joyous thing. And in the gospel, we hear the news, the good news. The word gospel literally means good news. That in Jesus Christ, it is finished. That our salvation is accomplished. God does not come to us with a to-do list. He comes to us with the gospel. The good news that Jesus has come. He lived a perfect life. He died in our place. He rose for our victory.

And in him, he gives us his righteousness. He welcomes us into the family. And he has gone to prepare a place for us. This is good news. And so this morning, in the midst of a world that sometimes feels so discouraging, and I go through times where simply you just have to ignore the news because it's so much suffering on a global scale. And your heart and my heart were not designed to be able to hold the weight of the world's suffering. And so it begins to weigh upon us. And it begins to crush us. And in the midst of that suffering, there is conflict and strife. Not just sort of in a general societal way between this group and that group, but in our own families. And in our work. And sometimes with our neighbors and with our friends.

We live in a world that is filled with difficulty and hurt and sorrow and struggle. And the reality is for a lot of us, some of that hurt is self-inflicted. Some of that conflict is because of us. And so into the darkness and the brokenness of our world, Jesus comes. And He's announced by the angels with these words that there is good news of great joy, and this is the part I like, that will be for all people. And then the angel goes on to tell us what that good news is. The truth is, is that in the city of David, a Savior is born, who is Christ the Lord. So on this Christmas morning, I just want to point you to three very simple but life-changing things about the arrival and the birth of Jesus.

Now, the first part of this good news that we see is that God keeps His promises. Now, at first glance, for some of us that might not seem that encouraging, because good news about kept promises are only good if the promises are good, right? And maybe I was the only child growing up, but those words from my mom, it's like, "You wait till your father gets home," right? That's not good news of great joy that shall be for all people, right? Because I've obviously done something wrong, and the promise there is not one of, "You're going for ice cream," right? "You're going for something else." And it's not always good news. And the promises of God who comes, He has promises of judgment, right? We're familiar with that. That His wrath is poured out upon the rebellious and the sinful, and it's not just that God is angry over sin,

but that He's justly angry over sin. It's not unfair that God is angry over sin. And so God has made it clear in Scripture that there are promises of judgment, and so how can we look at the promises of God and see that there is good news? Especially when we see the sobering reality that you and I deserve wrath. In Ephesians chapter 2, these first three verses, it says of us that we were dead in our trespasses and sins in which we once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

And I want to focus in just on those words, we were by nature children of wrath, because the point that Paul is making is that we don't just do sin, but that we are sinful. And we understand this distinction, right? So sometimes, like if I'm being chased by a bear, I will run, but I am not a runner, right? Now I drive my car, sometimes we drive a long distance, but professionally I am not a driver. Sometimes I build things, but I am not a builder. Sometimes I fix my car, but I am not a mechanic. There is a difference between doing something and being something. And what the Apostle Paul says in these verses is that sin isn't just something that we do, but it has captured the entirety of our identity. That we are not just sinning, but we are sinful.

And that's a terrifying, terrifying thought, to stand before a holy and just God. And so to the weary soul who comes to Christmas, and they see that they are deserving of judgment, it doesn't seem very helpful to us for our joy that God would keep His promises. It doesn't lift my burdens, instead it adds to them, because I see my brokenness and my sinfulness, and I see a God who has promised justice, and I don't need justice, I don't want justice, I need mercy, and I need grace. And into the broken darkness of our souls comes the promise of redemption. In fact, it begins as God pronounces judgment upon Adam and Eve. In the midst of this, it's called the first gospel. In Genesis 3:15, there is a glimpse of hope. As God speaks to the woman and to the serpent, He says,

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring." And He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. And for us, sometimes we hear that, and it seems convoluted, and it seems like a long time ago. What God is saying very simply in those words is that there is a battle going on, a spiritual battle, and there will come one who is born from a woman who will destroy the serpent, right? A bruised heel might be painful, but a bruised, or as some translations will say, crushed head, that's fatal. And the promise in the midst of the brokenness of judgment in Genesis chapter 3, when the world falls apart, is that God is going to send a Savior who will crush under His feet the serpent. But it goes more than that.

To Abraham he will say, "Through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed." And in Galatians 4, Paul says this, "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman." Now going back all the way to Genesis 3:15. Born under the law, and here is what He is going to do. He is going to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but you are a son. And if you are a son, you are an heir. Through the promises of Christmas. All of those prophecies from Genesis 3 onward, we see that God keeps His promise.

And His promise to His people is that He would come and He would redeem them. That there would be a child born who would crush Satan under his feet, and God would adopt us into His family. And we come, not distantly, but we come as children. And that word "Abba" has a picture with it of a child's cry to their father, informal. And we would see it as "Dad" or "Daddy" or "Papa." Right? The joy of a child coming to their father is the picture of what Jesus does for us. In Matthew 1, we hear these words: "She will bear a son, and you will call His name Jesus, and He will save His people from their sins." Jesus will say this about the promises of God being fulfilled in Luke chapter 4: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, set at liberty those who are oppressed, and proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Right? The promise for us who turn to Jesus is not one of wrath, but it's one of hope. It's not one of punishment and brokenness. It's a promise of restoration. That He would pick up the crushed. That He would help those who are blind to be able to see. That He would lift the weight of our sin off of our shoulders. And those promises are fulfilled through the birth of Jesus. Sometimes things for us are kind of hard to find. I was looking for a present for a gift exchange that we are part of. And I had looked online, and I found something that the person I thought they would like.

And so I was like, "Rachel, let's go to the store." They have one left. It's like 90% off. So instead of being normally like $140, it was like less than $30. And we get there, and immediately, right, you walk into a store at this time of year, and everything is in disarray. And we're just walking around, and I was ready to give up. I walked in the door, and I'm like, "I'm ready to give up. I don't want to be in this store." And we looked, and we searched, and we searched. And if Rachel was by herself, she may have found it. But I was grumpy, and I was impatient, and we had a time limit to get back to our kids. And it was just so frustrating to look for that promised thing, and not be able to find it.

And in our hearts, they cry out for redemption. We see our brokenness, and we know that we need hope and restoration. And the second good news of Christmas is that Jesus comes close to us, right? He does not hide from us. Psalm 19 says that He reveals Himself both through His world and His Word. Romans chapter 1 talks about how God has proclaimed His greatness through creation, so we're all without excuse. Acts chapter 17, Paul talking to a bunch of pagans will quote their own philosophers and talk about how in God we live and we move and we have our being. What you find is that God is not hiding from us. But God is also not unreachable or out of touch. We're so used to, in everything we do, having to qualify, right? You want to get a credit card? You've got to qualify.

You want to buy a house? You've got to qualify. You want to buy a car? You've got to qualify. You want to get a new job? You better have the qualifications. And we're so used to having to qualify things to make sure we have everything we need. And I think about this every time I go to the DMV, right? Because it's not just one little form you have to take, right? There's got to be a form, and if you're getting a new car, you've got to have a title, and you've got to have this form. You've got to have ID. You're renewing your driver's license. You've got to have a piece of mail with your address on it. And you get there, and it's like they check you before you even get to the counter, right?

Do you have this? Do you have this? Do you have this? Do you have this? And when you and I come to God, sometimes it feels like we have this list of things, and we look at ourselves, and we say there is absolutely no way in this world that I would be able to qualify. There's absolutely no way that I will have everything that I need. And the question is this: How does a broken, unqualified person get near to God? Listen to these words from Matthew: "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by his prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel." And then Matthew, just to make sure we get this, he translates it from Aramaic into Greek, and he says that means God is with us.

The picture here is not that we somehow have sought and found and gone to God, but rather he has come down to unworthy people. And we might say in that, yes, he's come to us, but how can he relate to us? And as you look through Scripture, one of the things, and one of the things this wonderful truth about God being with us means, is that Jesus can relate. He can relate to your joys and to your sorrows. He can relate to your wonderful moments in life and those deepest moments of heartbreak. One of the ways that I think is so helpful, especially this time of year when we're surrounded by family, is if you read through Jesus' family, there's a lot of struggle, a lot of heartbreak in that family. One commentator says this about Jesus' family.

He says, "Matthew's genealogy includes the outcast, the scandalous, and the foreigner. The family Jesus comes from anticipates the family that he has come for." Jesus came from a difficult family. And so when he looks at us, who might be difficult, he says, "I'm used to that. I've experienced that." He knows where we have walked because he has walked there himself. God is not distant from you in his understanding of your hurt and brokenness. One of my favorite preachers, Charles Spurgeon, says this, "Being with us in our nature, God was with us in life's pilgrimage. Scarcely you can find a halting place in the march of life at which Jesus has not paused, or a weary league that he has not traversed. From the gate of entrance even to the door which closes life's way, the footprints of Jesus may be traced.

Were you in the cradle? He was there. Were you a child under parental authority? Christ also was a boy at home in Nazareth. Have you entered upon life's battle? Your Lord and Master did the same, and though He lived not to an old age, yet through an incessant toil and suffering He bore the marred visage which attends battered old age. Are you alone? So was He in the wilderness, on the mountainside, in the thickest troubles. Where can you find yourself? On a hilltop? Or in the valley? Or in land? Or on sea? Or in the daylight? In the darkness? Where, I say, can you be without discovering that Jesus has been there before you? We see that God keeps His promise for our redemption. That God has come close to us. Revealed Himself to us.

That He knows us. And He walks with us. And I want you to think about how Jesus comes. Because there's a lot of ways in which Jesus could come, right? In majesty and authority. He could have come in judgment. In rightful judgment. But instead, He steps into our world as a baby. And when it comes to Christmas, we have two sort of different ways in which we walk when it comes to thinking about the birth of Jesus. In one way, we sort of romanticize it, right? It's sort of a postcard picture moment with Mary and Jesus. And there's this, you know, beautiful looking donkey coming along. And we sort of romanticize the difficulty of the singing. We make it maybe less gritty and less difficult and less scary than it was, right? In fact, we even sing about the little drummer boy, which the idea of the song is that what can I bring to Jesus?

I just have a song and I'll bring it to Him. And that's a good message. But think about for a moment that if you're a mom who has just had a baby in a stable, in a stable is the first thing that you want. Some kids showing up with a drum solo, right? Like you want that baby to go to sleep, right? And so sometimes we romanticize the birth of Jesus, but then sometimes we go to the other way. And we talk about how difficult and hard it was. And that's true as well. The reality of the birth of Jesus lies somewhere in the middle. Yes, it was difficult. Yes, it was in a stable. Yes, it was a struggle. It was a struggle. But in that, God provides. God sends help. God has a plan.

And the reason that God steps into human history is as a baby. Because everywhere in Scripture you see God encountering people. Like there's fear. Even the representatives of God. Think for a moment about the angels. Just in the story of Jesus, what's the first word of an angel? Every time they show up, they say, "Don't be afraid." Not just in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament. When God's glory comes out, they see His glory through the clouds descending on Mount Sinai. They say, "We can't be near the mountain because we're too close to God." And so when God steps into our world, He doesn't come in great glory, great power, or great judgment. He comes as a baby. I want you to think about the reality of that just for a moment, right?

Because in most of the world, like, for example, if a giraffe has a baby, right? That baby's up and walking just a very short period of time, right? Because they've got to be able to run from predators and be able to hide. But think about human children in relation to so much of the rest of the world. They're pretty helpless, right? My oldest is nine, and they still don't have a job, right? They don't have a place to live that's on their own, right? They're still dependent upon us for everything. Think about that, that God, with all the glory and the honor and the power, steps into our world, not in glory and majesty and judgment, but as a child who is helpless. Right? The one upon whom we all depend, the one who upholds all things by the word of his power, comes as a baby who is wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

Why does God come into human history as a baby? Because if he came in any other way, you and I would run into fear. We would hide. We would fall on our faces. We would say, "God, don't be near me." Remember when Peter just gets a quick glimpse of the power of Jesus and says, "Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man." You see, God knows. He knows that we are broken and sinful and will run and hide like our first parents, Adam and Eve, from his glory. And so when he comes to save us, he comes close. He comes in a way that will not cause us to run from him. You see, the good news of the Gospel is that God has redeemed us. He has kept his promise of redemption.

He has come close and understands and seeks to be understood by us, and he comes in a way that does not cause us to run from him in fear. We sometimes sing, "O Holy Night," and there's a line that's always stuck with me. In fact, probably like eight or nine years ago, we had a whole Christmas series about this called "The Weary World Rejoices." It's about Jesus being born, and the line of the song is simply that: "The weary world rejoices." And the reality is our world can be weary, and it's a struggle. But into that weariness steps a Savior who has come to save us. And in the midst of all of our joys that have happened in this last year, in the midst of all of our sorrows, there is good news that God has come to save us.

That there is hope, there is joy, there is peace, and there is love that is found in Jesus, the Son of God. So in just a moment, we are going to partake together of the Lord's Supper. And one of the remarkable things, you see it in Luke 2, you see it throughout the ministry of Jesus, that people come and they get a glimpse of God's goodness, and they immediately begin to go and tell others about it. You see it in Luke 2, in the passage Brent read, the shepherds, they come and see, and then the very next verse, they go and tell everybody they know. As Jesus begins His ministry, right, some of the disciples of John will run to their friends and say, "Hey, we found the one whom the prophets have spoke about. Come and see."

And those men become disciples of Jesus who go on to proclaim the good news to the world. Right, there is this picture in the Gospels that begins with an invitation to come and see the goodness of God, and then go and speak about it to those around you who are hurting, who are in conflict, who are under the weight of their sin, that they would see the peace, the hope, the joy, the love, and the goodness of God. And coming around the table together, right, that's the message of communion, right? Come and see. Come and remember what Jesus has done for you. Come and remember the cross, and the sorrow, and the agony. And see the forgiveness, and the grace, and the mercy that is poured into your life through the body and the blood of Jesus.

But then take that good news. And go out and tell others about it. So we'll read from 1 Corinthians 15. We will partake together in this meal. Father in heaven, thank you for joining us. His promises to see the good news of the Gospel. As we look to the cross, to this bread,

in this compass of your peace and your joy to the world. We thank you for Jesus and for grace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You would take the bread with me. As Paul says, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. He said, "This is my body." Do this as often as you drink it. Let's drink together. And then here... Eat this bread, and you drink this cup. You proclaim the Lord until He comes. We're going to go ahead. We're going to stand and we're going to sing. Go tell it on the mat.

We've been adding a verse every week, so this... And then we're going to have to sing the chorus a couple more times. So let's sing Go Tell It on the Mat. Go tell it on the mat. Go tell it on the mat. Go tell it on the mat. Wild shepherds. Birds kept their watch. Oh no.

A holy ladder. The hills and everywhere. Go. The shepherds feared and trembled. The people of the earth. Rainy angel. Chorus. Earth. Earth. Earth. Good on the mountains. And Jesus Christ is. Is born. Down in the low.

We made your hearts. And. Touch salvation. That. Blessed. Oh. Lord. Go. Tell it. On the mountains. And. And. Every. Wounds. Then the. Christ is. Born. Good morning. Just a couple of announcements. This Wednesday night, we will begin the first Wednesday in January. We're going to begin a study of the book of James, and so I urge you to come and join us for that. We're going to be doing something a little bit different with this. I know I struggle, or for some people who come, they'd like to watch some of the sessions again, and so we have the ability to share those with you. So if you're not able to come and would like to as well, we have a little bit of detail this past week, and we'll keep you updated about that also on Saturday, January 28th, which is strange.

We're almost all the way to January next Sunday. We're going to have a men's breakfast, and so we'd like to invite you to join us for that. And guys, invite some friends and come and have some food and fellowship and get together on January the 28th. So we're going to pray. I'm going to speak from Luke chapter 2, and then we'll have the kiddos come and help. Thank you for Jesus and for grace and for hope. Thank you for your church and for your people. Just help us to see your goodness, we pray. Amen. And so the angels come to the shepherds in Luke chapter 2. They say, "We bring you the saying that had been told them concerning this child." You see, they heard from the angels the good men saw, and then they went and told it.

So kiddos, ready to come up and help us sing? Come on up. So we're just going to sing the chorus through twice. Ezra, you want to come?