THE ANGELS OF CHRISTMAS: Divine Messengers - The Angel to Zechariah (Luke 2:1-20) 12-22-24
Christmas Angels - faith, mercy, hope
When you think of joy, what event comes to mind?
Christmas Joy: A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll finds 96% of all U.S. adults celebrate Christmas (consistent over the past decade). This includes a high level of participation, 84% among non-Christians. Most Americans feel positive toward Christmas. 50% say it is a great time, including 15% who say it is the best time of the year. An additional 35% say it is a good time. 8% say it is neither good nor bad, and 3% say it is a bad time. Younger adults are more likely than older adults to describe it in positive terms. 61% of 18-29-year-olds say it‘s the best time of year or a great time. Among those 30-49 it’s 54%, with the 50-64 set it’s 45% and just 38% for those 65 and older.
Gallup Alert, 12/22/05.
“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
And 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 the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
Luke 2:1-20 NIV
I. GOOD NEWS
Our world is desperately in need of some good news. Suzanne Jennings wrote this song in 1999:
I woke up Monday morning, walked out on the lawn
My eyes were barely open, and my mouth began to yawn
Picked up the daily paper, every single headline said,
That this ole world is full of trouble, and I wished I'd stayed in bed.
Sometimes the bad that's goin' on's enough to bring you down.
Turned on my television and began to flip on thru
All 100 channels, On Demand, and Pay per view
Not one message had a meaning that was good in any way
Just before I wrote the whole world off, I heard the Father say,
"Don't forget what I have promised, you can overcome it all!"
Well my knees began to shake, and my heart began to beat,
And a funny new sensation worked its way into my feet
The Spirit of glad tidings came from somewhere deep inside,
And holdin' back the flood was just like holdin' back the tide.
I couldn't help but circulate to everyone I know.
I'll spread this talk all over town about the peace and joy I've found in You, good news!
This story is about to break and blessed are the feet that take the Truth, good news!
I'm slippin' on my gospel shoes--Cause I've got good, good news!
Suzanne Jennings, “Good News” performed by Gaither Vocal Band, Sermon Central, 1999.
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 1:1-4 NIV
A. Jesus will be born.
B. Jesus will be savior.
C. Jesus will be messiah.
“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!””
Mark 1:14-15 NIV
“At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”
Luke 4:42-44 NIV
How do we respond to this good news? Look at how we sing about our faith.
Sadly, our period in history is not, by any means, the first to argue, fight or shoot at one another over our opinions about what does and does not make a worthy song of worship. Nor is ours the first in which there were scores of people in the congregations who sang the words of their worship songs from habit and rote memory, rather than from heart and with imminent understanding -- even during such ’high holy seasons’ as Christmastime.
In the first half of the 18th Century in England, many of the hymns that we still fondly remember and sing today were written. Some of them were popular from their inception and kept with the traditions of their day. Others sought to make adjustments respective to a changing and adjusting people and were met with great criticism. Interestingly enough, of those that continue to survive and be sung today, the most prolific hymn-writer was one of these ’radicals.’ Isaac Watts, the author of such hymns as ’O God, Our Help in Ages Past,’ ’I Sing The Mighty Power of God,’ ’When I Survey The Wondrous Cross,’ ’At The Cross,’ ’We’re Marching to Zion,’ and many others, was met with great controversy by his own contemporaries. In fact some of the church leaders of his day insisted that no ’sound Christian’ should ever sing a hymn written by Isaac Watts!
One of his earliest and most controversial songs, however, grew to become one of today’s most popular and endeared Christmas carols - "Joy To The World," written in 1719. What, you may ask, could be so controversial about "Joy To The World"? In Watt’s day many of the most prominent Christians (especially the Calvinists, of which Watts himself was), taught that ALL songs sung in church MUST be very close, literal word-for-word translations of the Psalms. When Watts wrote "Joy To The World," he based the lyrics on Psalm 98. However, rather than write it as a very close, literal word-for-word translation, he re-wrote it as an expressive paraphrase.
Why would Watts so ’buck’ the traditions and conventions of his day, especially in relation to communicating Scripture? It starts with his experiences as a teen, where he became increasingly frustrated that so few people seemed to be genuinely showing or understanding their faith while they were singing the psalms in the traditional form. He began to write his own hymns in order to bring more life and understanding to worship. To accomplish this, he sought to write songs that remained true and accurate to Scripture, but that would also be expressed in words and ways that people would more easily understand, remember and celebrate.
Todd Leupold, "Joy To The World," Sermon Central, 12/21/2008.
II. GREAT JOY
To quote Charles Spurgeon:
"It is joy to all nations that Christ is born, the Prince of Peace, the King who rules in righteousness . . . Beloved, the greatest joy is to those who know Christ as a Saviour . . . The further you submit yourself to Christ the Lord, the more completely you know Him, the fuller will your happiness become. Surface joy is to those who live where the Saviour is preached; but the great deeps, the great fathomless deeps of solemn joy which glisten and sparkle with delight, are for such as know the Saviour, obey the Anointed One, and have communion with the Lord Himself...you will never know the fullness of the joy which Jesus brings to the soul, unless under the power of the Holy Spirit you take the Lord your Master to be your All in all, and make Him the fountain of your intensest delight."
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
Philippians 4:4 NIV
A. Our sins are forgiven.
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.””
Matthew 1:21 NIV
B. God's promises are fulfilled.
“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”
Luke 2:10 NIV
C. With faith, mercy and hope bring joy.
Someone once said, “The difference beween happiness and joy is that happiness comes from happenings and joy comes from Jesus.”
A few years ago Michael Bublé wrote a song that became very popular among the young military members deployed and their loved ones back home. The title was simply, “Home.” One part of the lyrics describes this painful separation from those we love with the words,
Let me go home
I'm just too far
From where you are
I wanna come home.
As we walk this adventure of life together on the highway to heaven, we know that every day brings us a little closer to the other side of eternity, when we will be with our beloved Jesus face-to-face, along with all others who love him. That’s our true home. We don’t rush our homecoming; we depend on God’s timing. Yet, because of the certainty of the life ahead, we can have an eternal joy, no matter what life brings our way here.
Kerry Haynes, Sermon Central, December 15, 2019.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13 NIV
III. GLORIFYING AND PRAISING
A. What is the result of joy?
B. What do you do when you rejoice?
“Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.”
Psalms 47:1 NIV
“In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.””
Isaiah 12:4-6 NIV
C. What reasons do you have to rejoice today?
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:6-11 NIV
CONCLUSION
We have been given Good News. (Jesus has come.) We have reason to rejoice. (Our sins can be forgiven.) We must glorify and praise God for what He has done. (He has offered us salvation.)
“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.”
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 NIV
INVITATION
It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word. You may want to follow Jesus. You may want to proclaim your faith. You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things). Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church. If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now. If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.
