Mary and Jesus—God with Us - Luke 1:26-38

              

Advent is over, Christmas is here! This year we’ve joined the people around a manger in a stable in the small town of Bethlehem a little over 2,000 years ago to get to know the child in the manger. Jesus is born into a world not all that different from ours. Here are some of the headlines that could have been in the Jerusalem Gazette at that time:

Grain Ships Dock, Rome Riots End; Supply Chains Stabilizing;

Olympic Wrestler Still in Coma;

Report of Angel Sightings in Judea.

 

There were wars going on, sickness, poverty, injustice, people struggling to just get by, often with no real sense of purpose or meaning in life. It was a world just like ours, filled with people just like us, but God’s about to burst onto the scene of humanity. Jesus is born and the world has never been the same since. There are still wars, poverty, injustice and more; however, there’s the hope of God with us, Immanuel. Through Jesus, God brings new life and hope to the world.

Luke writes the story of Jesus' birth from Mary's perspective. Mary is introduced to us as a young maiden, a virgin pledged in marriage to a man called Joseph. There's no mention of Mary's family however; she seems to come from a family with little status. This is the young girl God has chosen to move his plan to redeem the world forward. Luke gives us a deeper glimpse into who Mary is.

The angel Gabriel comes to the town of Nazareth to bring Mary a message from God. As Gabriel greets Mary, he uses the Greek word charis in 3 different ways to give us a glimpse into why God chooses Mary. Charis means grace, to rejoice, and favour. This word has the notion of sweetness, charm, loveliness, and delight. Another way to translate the first words of the angel is, "Rejoice, you who are full of grace! The Lord is with you... Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found grace and favour with God." Mary is called to give praise to God! Why? Gabriel recognizes that she’s a grace-filled woman, a woman whose natural response is gratitude. We’re given a glimpse here into Mary's character; there’s a delight and loveliness in who she is as a young woman. Mary has been taught to trust God because he’s faithful and trustworthy. God now fills her even more with grace and favour.

People who are grace filled and grateful always seem be happy and filled with joy, and the people around them get filled with the same joy they have. Wherever they are, no matter who they’re with, they bring light and life into the people and situations around them. Most grace filled people I know are regular people who live simply and yet are generous and loving. They express their gratitude to God in their relationships with others. In the Bible, God often seems to use people who are grace filled because they trust God more and are open to God working in them and through them. God gives his favour to this young grace filled woman, raising Mary up to a central role in salvation history.

What’s God doing here, choosing Mary to have this child? He’s calling Mary to be the mother of Jesus, but if Jesus is the Son of God, then Mary will be the mother of God, in Greek, theotokos. In seminary, we had a discussion in our classes about who Jesus is, and some students had a difficult time with this thought, and yet it’s important because it addresses both Jesus' divinity and his humanity. Mary’s the mother of God in the sense that she carries in her womb a divine person, Jesus Christ, God "in the flesh," contributing her human DNA to Jesus. John writes, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus comes to be God with us as one of us!

Jesus is born of Mary; affirming Jesus as a real flesh and blood person set into history. The Church Father Ignatius writes, Jesus was "truly born, truly lived, truly died," all important if Jesus is who he says he is. Jesus' humanity is important in order to fulfill God's promise to Satan in Genesis 3:14–15 "So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.  And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

This is a lot to place on a young woman. Here we see how our relationship with God affects our response to the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives; Mary responds, "I am the Lord's servant, may your word to me be fulfilled." Mary chooses to trust. Life is about to become harder. She knows that people will talk about an unmarried girl being pregnant. She knows it will be hard to tell Joseph and he may doubt her. Yet Mary also knows who God is, raised on the stories of God's faithfulness. Mary knows that when God works, things often become much more difficult before they become better, life gets messier as God uses his people to bring hope; injustice and hurt often come before freedom and redemption. Mary knows God never promises easy, but he has promised to be with us.

Mary asks, “How will this be since I’m a virgin;” kind of a practical question. Mary doesn’t blindly accept this astonishing news; the Greek word here means “to make an audit” to think about this rationally. Our faith is not blind, it’s a reasonable faith. Tim Keller writes about what healthy doubt looks like, “Some doubt seeks answers…. There are people like Mary who are open to the truth and are willing to relinquish sovereignty over their lives if they can be shown that the truth is other than what they thought.” The angel responds, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." We hear echoes from the Old Testament of when God came down in a visible way so that Israel would know that he was there. In Exodus 40 we read about the finishing of the tabernacle and when it was done, we read, "Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle."

In 1 Kings 8, when the temple was built and the ark brought into the new temple, "the cloud filled the temple of the Lord.  And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple." Mary hears that this child will be created in her through an act of God and will be God’s son, even though she’s still a virgin. It’s Luke, a doctor, who gives us the how-to of Mary getting pregnant.

Trust is a big part of our faith in God. Do you trust God? Is there something preventing you from completely trusting God and recognizing his blessings in your life? Trust and faith are not always easy to give because life's circumstances bring so many experiences that we find hard to explain or process. Trust comes when we learn to place our work, our success, our family, and relationships in God's hands, learning what Jesus calls success. Trust comes as you begin to recognize how the Holy Spirit is blessing you right now in your present circumstances. Jesus loves you and is working out everything for your good; this is why the manger and the cross are so important, they’re signs of his love and trustworthiness.

Trust comes as you learn forgiveness and grace; experiencing Jesus' forgiveness and grace in your own life. The bes4062t place to start is in God's word, in the stories of his relationship with humanity. Mary learned trust and faith from her parents and her synagogue; practicing her faith in daily life. Mary teaches Jesus the stories of God and his relationship with his people, teaching Jesus to have faith in his heavenly father. Mary teaches Jesus the ways of the Lord while looking after his needs, nursing him, nurturing him, and teaching him the things mothers teach their sons; like trust and grace. We see Jesus' trust in God played out in the Garden of Gethsemane when he tells God, "Your will be done," and then walking the path to the cross on our behalf. We see Jesus’ grace play out in his relationships with the people. Trust and faith in Jesus, God with us; may you hold on tightly to both as you come to the manger to see the son of Mary, the Son of God this Christmas.

Glory to God—Christmas Eve - Luke 2:8–16

                 

It’s Christmas Eve, the children are excited and parents are eager to see the excited faces and hear the sounds of joy when their children open their gifts. Even followers of Jesus enjoy giving gifts and experiencing the joy of watching family and friends opens their gifts of love. There may be fewer gifts this year, but the love and joy that accompanies the giving of gifts is still there. This evening we’re remembering the greatest gift God has given us, the gift of his son Jesus, the child in the manger, the one the angels offer up their gift of praise for.

The angel’s song is often called Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Latin for Glory to God in the highest. Jesus’ coming is not only a gift to us here on earth, but it’s a gift to all of creation, a promise to all creation that God is one the move to reverse the impact of sin that entered into the world through humanity. Jesus comes during a time in history where the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome covered the majority of the known world at the time. It was a forced peace enforced by Roman soldiers, an absence of violence and war. The angels sing of the gift of peace, “and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.” This promise of peace is a deeper, longer lasting peace that the Holy Spirit offers within our hearts, souls, minds, and lives, a peace that is filled with comfort and hope, a peace that brings healing and renewal in us and between us.

In a world where war ravishes places like the Ukraine, the Congo, and other areas where there is localized fighting, to our own country where political leaders find battling each other instead of working together is better for them, to those relationships in our own lives that are broken or stretched really tight, the angels offer “peace to men on whom his favour rests,” to those who accept the Prince of Peace as their Lord, peace that can heal relationships and the brokenness of our hearts as we come closer to Jesus and allow his Spirit to remind us of Jesus’ great love and compassion for us.

God’s peace gives us the strength to move forward, to learn to trust, to help us to offer compassion, love, and forgiveness since these are the very things Jesus offers us as part of the peace he brings. Jesus came into the dark and brokenness of our world to shine his light, the light of the world, to bring hope and remind us that we are God’s people and he has come to be with us. Jesus is the gift of God’s love for us and he comes looking for us, seeking us, finding us. This is why we sing for joy on this evening before Christmas, an evening that invites us to come close to Jesus and experience his favour.

Father Stephen Freeman writes, “Peace on earth and good-will towards men receive a very specific content in the incarnation of Christ. The angels sing because Christ is born. Without His birth, there is no peace nor good-will. His birth proclaims the beginnings of God’s peace on earth, the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God. His birth proclaims good-will – God’s good will towards men, the only good-will that matters. The angel offers God’s peace and goodwill to those on whom his favour rests, to those who accept this child in the manger as their Lord and Saviour.

We are also reminded by Paul in Philippians 2, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 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.” On this Christmas eve, we approach the manger to acknowledge that Jesus is our Lord and that he is the source of our peace, and we join the angel song, “Glory to God in the highest!”

 

The Magi—The Nations of the World Come to Jesus - Matthew 2:1-12

The Magi, or wisemen, are the first foreigners to come seeking Jesus and then worshipping him. The Wisemen appear in Jerusalem, asking where is the one born king of the Jews. They claim that they've seen his star. These Wisemen studied the stars and were scientists from the East. The Wisemen knew of Israel and the expectations of a Messiah through the influence of Daniel and his three friends, and from Esther and Mordecai, hundreds of years earlier. Daniel had great influence in the court and was even placed in charge of the wise man, becoming a Magi himself. Now hundreds of years later, the whole world is on tiptoe waiting eagerly in anticipation for something, but not quite sure who or what for.

The Wisemen follow a star God placed in just the right place in the night sky for them to notice, and they end up in Jerusalem, at the palace of King Herod. Herod has no idea of this child born king of the Jews. Herod calls his wise men and asks them where the Messiah is supposed to be born and they tell him Bethlehem. King Herod tells the Wisemen and sends them off to find this child king and asks them to come back to tell him where to find the child so he can go and worship the child too, though he really wants to get rid of this baby.

The Wisemen follow the star to the house where Jesus is and they offer Jesus their gifts and worship him. The foreigners from the nations appear before the Son of God and King of the world. The Wisemen bow down before Jesus and worship him. They recognize that Jesus is a special king. God makes sure the world knows how special Jesus is by writing Jesus’ birth announcement in the stars.

Jesus is king, not just of the Jews, but king of the entire world. A king in Biblical times was all powerful over his people. The king said 'Jump' and the person would ask 'How high' on the way up. The king held the power of life or death over all his subjects. Justice was a major responsibility of kings, making sure everyone was treated fairly. The king was the highest judge in the land and seen as the defender of orphans, widows, and the poor. The king was like a father or husband to these people, protecting and taking care of them.

 

The Wisemen are seeking this kind of a king; one announced by the stars who will do great things for all the people of the world. If they wanted to see a regular king, they could have gone to Rome or to Babylon, or to Cairo, but they are looking for a greatness that comes from God to watch over God’s people. The Wisemen give to Jesus from the best that they have, they bow before Jesus as a sign of his greatness, they worship him because they acknowledge Jesus' connection to God.

 

Jesus used many of the images of what a good, gracious, compassion king is supposed to be to his people; a shepherd king, husband or father, and defender of the oppressed. Jesus taught about justice and the kingdom of God and died on the cross to satisfy God's justice. Christmas means that the King has come to his world. As you come to the manger, do you come to worship Jesus as your king? Do you recognize Jesus as the only king in your life? Does Jesus shape how you live and what you believe and accept as truth for your life? Do his commands bring about instant obedience from you? Do you acknowledge his power over you and your accountability to Jesus as your king? Are you willing to place your life in Jesus' hands and worship him as king over every part of your life, over all of creation?

Jesus our King is coming back again to end all of the evil, all the suffering, to heal all the hurt and brokenness in the world, and even end death! Jesus has come to invite people from every nation to follow him, will you follow Jesus?

Joseph: Obedience and Righteousness-Matthew 1:18-25

Matthew gives us a glimpse the birth of Jesus through Joseph’s experience, how his world’s turned upside down when he discovers Mary’s pregnant with a child that isn't his. We're drawn into Joseph's struggle on what to do, since his wife seems to be unfaithful, a woman he doesn't want to hurt, but someone he can no longer see himself staying married to.

Matthew shows us Joseph's character, what his heart is like; Joseph’s a man who follows God. He’s described as a "righteous" man, a man who faithfully follows God's law, choosing God’s way every time. But Joseph’s also a compassionate man, who doesn't want to embarrass or disgrace Mary, even though this is what he believes she's done to him. Joseph wrestles in his mind and heart over the news of Mary’s pregnancy and decides to act with grace and mercy. Joseph could have taken vengeance and he would have had the law on his side. Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 22, "If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife."

Instead, Joseph decides to follow Moses' guidelines on how to quietly get a divorce. Moses writes in Deuteronomy 24:1 "If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house." This allows Joseph to keep this quiet and private, protecting the dignity of everyone involved; following God's law, but with a spirit of grace and mercy. We get a sense from Matthew, and from the difficulty of the situation, that Joseph puts a lot of thought and prayer into his decision. It's only after Joseph walks this difficult path that God enters the picture with a different way.

God sends an angel. During the whole time Joseph is agonizing through the problem of his marriage to Mary, God lets Joseph work through his options; vengeance or a form of grace, both allowed in his law. God isn't necessarily there to hold our hands when we need to make decisions, even if they are hard and difficult decisions to make. God has given us his Word and Spirit to guide us. God allows us to make harsher decisions in the spirit of justice, and yet often giving us the option of grace, mercy and love as well.

All our decisions need to honour God. Sometimes we need to make decisions on which direction we should go, knowing that the decision we make will cause major changes in who we are and what kind of person we will become. God normally doesn’t appear and tell us directly, "Do this or that." Do you have hard choices to make? Turn to the Bible for wisdom, take a look at what God says, look at the principles and foundation Jesus lays out for us on how to live. If it’s still not clear, there are those wise people God has placed in your life who know you and can offer wisdom. There’s also the wisdom and brains God has given you as Holy Spirit works in you, guiding you through your conscience. Spend time in prayer. It’s amazing how often prayer makes things clearer. As Matthew Henry writes, "It is the thoughtful, not the unthinking, whom God will guide."

Joseph wants to be obedient to God, but he also wants to be grace-filled. It's only after Joseph makes his decision that God shows up with another option; keep Mary as his wife and raise her child as his own. Teach the boy Mary’s going to have, and help him to love the law and keep it. The angel tells Joseph, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 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.” Joseph is told to give Mary's son the name Jesus. In naming the boy, Joseph takes on the role of father to Jesus, adopting Jesus as his son, thus inserting Jesus into the lineage of King David.

Joseph has a choice to make; obey the commands of the angel or stick with his decision based on the law of Moses. Matthew writes, "When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus." Joseph obeys even though it means taking on Mary's shame, and when the child is born, Joseph assumes the responsibility of being Jesus' father, naming the boy Jesus as the angel had commanded.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us that faith and obedience are closely tied together. He writes that faith demands obedience and without obedience there’s no faith. Bonhoeffer doesn’t believe in a cheap or easy faith. When Jesus tells his followers, "If you love me, you will keep my commands," Bonhoeffer says, “Of Course!” The other side is this, if you don’t follow Jesus' commands, you don’t love Jesus and have no faith. Following Jesus is high commitment, all life demanding. Joseph gets this. He obeys even when it's hard and will cost him respect and status within his community. He obeys because God told him to do it. Joseph quietly and obediently does as God says, following Jesus doesn’t always mean making a scene about it, mostly it’s just saying “yes” to Jesus in all the small daily choices we make about who we are and how we live with each other.

Eugene Peterson writes, “God's Word makes things happen--he makes something happen in us. The imperative is a primary verb form in Holy Scripture: "Let there be light… Go… Come… Repent… Believe… Be still… Be healed… Get up…Ask… Love… Pray… and the intended consequence of the imperative is obedience." Pay attention to Jesus and listen, that’s how you discover who you are and where the Spirit’s leading you, you discover who Jesus is and how he and the Holy Spirit are right here with you, working in you and through you. This is faith that’s Jesus centered and has its roots in his action in you.

Through Joseph's righteous obedience, God moves forward his plan of saving his people from their sin and bringing new life to those who believe in Jesus; fulfilling the promises he made to his people generations before. Mathew reminds us, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”)."

God gives Jesus an earthly father to teach him the things fathers teach their children. Joseph teaches Jesus about God as the Scriptures as Deuteronomy 4 told him to, "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." And in Deuteronomy 7, "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." 

Joseph taught Jesus the stories of who God is, how God has saved his people time after time in the past, always keeping his covenant with them. Joseph taught Jesus the importance of obeying God who has claimed them as his people and walked with them, shaping them into a unique and peculiar people dedicated to God. Joseph’s an example for Jesus on what obedience looks like, to obey even though it may make life difficult for a time, or even when we don't understand what’s going on or why. Jesus later lives out obedience tempered with grace, mercy and love as his father Joseph did.

We obey because our faith calls us to obedience to God, because our trust is in Jesus who is Immanuel, God with us, who is working out all things for our good. It's what Jesus learns from Joseph and sees modelled in Joseph's life that helps Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus wants nothing more than to change the road ahead, and he still says to God, "Not my will, but yours be done;" obediently walking the road to the cross so we can experience forgiveness for our sin and new life. The children and youth of our congregation need to see your obedience in order to trust Jesus and get to know him. Your neighbours and co-workers and anyone you’re trying to invite to follow Jesus with you need to see your how obedience to Jesus changes your life and who you are for the better, how they experience Jesus’ love for them through you. Obedience and trust, a sign of your faith in Jesus, how big is your sign?

 

 

The Angels: Heaven Rejoices - Luke 2:1-20

As we come closer to Christmas, we’re approaching the manger with those most closely associated with the Christmas story. Last week we reflected on the shepherds and Jesus as the Good Shepherd, this morning we’re reflecting on the angels who appeared to the shepherds and the praise the angels offer because Jesus has come. One writer defines praise as "the natural response of believers to God at all times and in all places, involving adoration in music and song." The response of both angels and shepherds is to praise God for the gift of Jesus, for his faithfulness in keeping his promises to send a saviour. Into the brokenness and hurt in the world, God shines the Gospel news that the Lord has come to change things and bring peace on earth, to bring hope that things can be different.

 

As the shepherds go about their work, watching over the sheep in the fields just outside of Bethlehem at night, they're visited by an angel of the Lord who suddenly appears in the night sky with a message for them. "Don't be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Messiah, the Lord." This is some pretty amazing news and it's announced from the heavens, God is making sure the good news gets out so people can rejoice!

The promised Messiah has come! The angel's words are powerful, filled with hope. They're powerful because of the news they bring, the promised saviour is here. But Luke is also setting up a challenge here, the same challenge Jesus later gives to the people; Luke’s telling his readers that they need to choose who they will accept as their Lord and Saviour. The titles the angel uses are the same titles Caesar Augustus has given himself: lord and saviour. In Priene, in the area of Turkey, archaeologists have found an inscription concerning the birth of Caesar Augustus, "the birth date of our God has signalled the beginning of good news for the world." Sound familiar? Luke is sticking it right on your face, who is your lord, your saviour? Think about it? Is Jesus really your Lord and Saviour?

 

The good news the angel brings leads other angels to show up and praise God, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests." Imagine this scene in your mind; the night sky filled with angels and glory of the Lord shining over everything and praise to God ringing through the meadow while the shepherds watch in amazement and awe. This rejoicing isn't limited to this field just outside of Bethlehem, the highest heavens, the throne room of God is rejoicing with the shepherds, and with us, because of what God has just done, something creation could never have imagined, something so unexpected that the only response is praise. Why praise? God has just become human, has joined the human race being born a human child of a human woman. God is not just visiting his people, he has moved into the neighbourhood, as Eugene Peterson writes, and made his home among his people; the promised Messiah has come!

 

Worship’s all about God, not about you or me. Worship happens more often outside of the sanctuary because that's where our lives happen and where the Spirit actively reaching out into our world. There are some fantastic pictures of worship in the Bible that are spontaneous because they come from the heart. Hear how one writer describes a joy-filled worship scene, "More than 2,500 years ago, in the bright of day, somewhere in a large Middle Eastern city, the king of a small nation strips down to his underclothes during a religious ceremony and dances to the rhythms of tambourines, castanets and cymbals punctuated by the melody of lyres, harps and other guitarlike instruments. He celebrates his God, shouting and singing words of exaltation, singing possibly the same songs he had written years earlier as a nomadic sheep herder, where his devotion was worked out in the sweat and stench of his servant situation." She's writing about King David who's worshipping God because the ark’s coming to the temple. He may have been singing Psalm 149, “Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song; sing his praise with the godly ones. Let Israel be glad in their Maker; let the sons of Zion rejoice in their King. Let them praise his name with dancing; let them sing praises to him with all types of musical instruments.”

 

Revelation 4 describes the praise happening in heaven’s throne room, “In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” This worship now flows out of the throne room of heaven into the fields outside of Bethlehem.

 

Don't limit your praise just for the extraordinary baby in a manger, praise God for the ordinary things of life; for eyes that see the stars in the night sky and the baby in a manger, for mouths that are able to sing and shout out praise to God and to share your praise with others. Praise God for the food you eat, the clothes you wear, for the place you call home, for family and friends, for a church family and a community of people who deeply care about each other. Praise God for being able to hear the music we play to sing our praises, for the gifts of those who share their gift of music and praise with us. Praise God even in the hard times because Jesus is with us through it all and he can use our hard times to bring encouragement and blessing when we’re able to share the goodness of Jesus’ love and strength with others who are also going through difficult times. There are countless things to praise God for and the Bible calls us to rejoice and praise God for them all.

 

Praising God is one of Scripture’s major themes. Praise begins in the heart and is connected to our everyday life. We give praise because we have the Gospel message that begins with God creating everything and it’s good, and very good! However, we’re all sinners and we don’t measure up to God’s standards. God’s just, he can’t simply tolerate our sin and pretend it’s not there, he must punish sin and the punishment is death. There’s nothing we can do to save ourselves, no matter how good we might be, we still sin. But the good news comes because God’s also love and provides a substitute to take our punishment for us. There’s no creature able to do it, so God sends his own son, Jesus, as the perfect substitute to take our place; completely God and completely sinless human. Our sin’s placed on Jesus who takes it to the cross, and to the grave, and after 3 days rises from the dead, having completely overcome sin and death. Jesus offers forgiveness and new life, a gracious gift, to all those who will believe in him. Jesus then gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us. We’re saved to do good works, showing our thankfulness to Jesus, assuring us of our faith so others can be won over to Jesus. This is a joy filled message for everyone!

Learn to see what the Holy Spirit’s doing in you and around you. Don't just give him praise when he answers a prayer the way you were hoping. It’s easy to praise the Lord when he does something for you, it’s something better to praise and give God thanks when things aren’t going your way. Praise God then because he’s with you, Immanuel, and he never abandons you.

 

Join the angels and shepherds in praising Jesus. May our life and words be shaped by Psalm 138:1, “I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the gods I will sing your praise.” Join with all creation and praise God at all times with the Psalmist in Psalm 69, “Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.” Psalm 66 reminds us that when Jesus returns, “All the earth will worship You, and will sing praises to You; they will sing praises to Your name.” May we be worshipping and praising Jesus alongside all creation when he returns and every day until then!

The Shepherds—Hope and Wonder - Luke 2:1-20

It's the first Sunday of Advent, the time of waiting to celebrate Jesus' birth. This advent we're going to come close to the manger and the people most closely connected to the Christmas story, starting with the shepherds. It's not always a pretty story. Ann Voskamp puts it this way. "And this Gospel? It doesn’t come wrapped in twinkling lights and satin bows; it comes straight into our pitchest black. The Gospel of Christ, it’s a messy, bloody thing and this is how God was born, bloody and bruised, and that’s how God chose to die, bloody and beaten. And our God, he knows the comings and goings of our blackest bloody battles, and this is exactly where He meets us. The Gospel is good news in the eye of the worst news." 

 

As the shepherds go about their work, watching over the sheep in the fields just outside of Bethlehem, they're visited by angels during the night. While some watch the sheep, and others rest or watch out for thieves or wild animals, an angel of the Lord suddenly shows up in the night sky with a message, "Don't be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Messiah, the Lord." This is some pretty amazing news and it comes straight from heaven. God is making sure the good news gets out. But God reveals this good news first to shepherds.

 

Shepherds are an unusual choice. Dr. Jeremias, a biblical scholar, says shepherds were “despised in everyday life.” They were considered second-class and untrustworthy. The Mishnah, Judaism’s written record of the oral law refers to shepherds as “incompetent”; another place says "no one should ever feel obligated to rescue a shepherd who has fallen into a pit." Dr. Jeremias writes, “To buy wool, milk, or a kid from a shepherd was forbidden on the assumption that it would be stolen property.” Shepherds were officially labeled as “sinners,” and despised. There’s a striking irony that a handful of shepherds are the first proclaim the Messiah’s birth. Jesus draws the outcast and those on the fringes of society to himself even at his birth.

 

Yet shepherds weren’t always despised. King David, an early king in Israel, was a shepherd and good kings were called shepherds because they protected and provided for their people. David tells King Saul when the giant Goliath is threatening God's people, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God."

 

I often wondered why God told the shepherds first, but then I met a shepherd in Nicaragua. This young man worked hard protecting his sheep from wild animals and thieves, staying out on the fields with his sheep at night with a big flashlight and an even bigger stick. He knew all his sheep by name, even though they all looked the same to me, and the sheep knew him and recognized his voice as a safe voice. This young man made sure his sheep had enough food to eat, taking them to fields in the mountains where there was healthy green grass to eat and water to drink. He protected his sheep. I believe God told the shepherds first because they can understand why Jesus came and what he was here to do, to take care of his people and provide for them; protecting them from danger and saving the sheep when they get into trouble. As Phillip Keller writes, “In the Christian’s life there is no substitute for the keen awareness that my Shepherd is nearby. There is nothing like Christ’s presence to dispel the fear, the panic, the terror of the unknown.”

 

I love how the shepherds are the first to welcome Jesus here. I’ve wondered if this is why Jesus calls himself the "Good Shepherd," an echo to Zechariah's prophecy that a good shepherd’s coming who will protect and save his sheep. The angel's news is that the Good Shepherd is here, the promised Messiah. God sends the Good Shepherd to watch over, protect, and rescue his sheep from danger. David gives us one of the best pictures of who Jesus is as the Good Shepherd. In Psalm 23 David writes, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever."

 

The good shepherd takes us to places that nourish and refresh us, especially when life gets rough and hard. He leads us beside still waters where we can drink safely and leads us in paths that bring shalom. When we walk through times of loss, when we walk through the shadow of death, the good shepherd is with us, guiding us and protecting our hearts and minds by filling them with his love, comfort, and hope. When people hurt us, our shepherd blesses us with ability to forgive and not grow bitter, as we know our shepherd understands and gives us the strength to get those times.

 

Jesus is the good shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep who are safe in order to go out into the wilderness to find the one lost sheep. Jesus leaves home to come to earth to seek his lost sheep. He knows each of us by name and when we stop and listen, we recognize his voice when he calls us. Our hearts are tuned to his voice. If you're here this morning and not quite sure why you're here, my guess is that the good shepherd’s calling your name and deep inside you're recognizing his voice at a heart level even as you came here this morning through family, a friend, or online.

 

As sheep, we have a tendency to wander; but our shepherd keeps coming after us to bring us back again to where we belong, with Jesus and the rest of his flock. Jesus also becomes the sacrificial lamb who dies in order to save us, washing us clean from the sin and dirt in us, making us right again with the father.

 

Now back to the shepherds who have been visited by the angels, they leave their sheep in safety in order to find the good shepherd. Their hearts were waiting to hear the invitation to go find Jesus. I love the response of the shepherds. They don't sit around questioning if what they've heard is true or not; they don't put off responding to the good news they've heard, they hurry off, leaving everything behind for a bit, and find Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger.

 

If you're here this morning and aren't really sure what to do about Jesus, if you're not sure if you can even believe that God would actually become a human baby, I invite you to ask yourself why this story seems to touch so many people, why would so many people trust in this story? There’s something about the love of a God who would leave a place where everything is good and there’s no suffering and misery to come to a place where he’ll experience suffering and misery his whole life and then die on a cross because he loves you that much.

 

Jesus is our shepherd. We’re not called to stay sheep; we’re called to move from being sheep to being shepherds under Jesus. Your sheep may be a friend, a neighbour, a family member, or someone at work or school who needs to meet the Good Shepherd. We’re called to lead them beside quiet waters so they can learn about the living water, we’re called to lead them to lush pastures where they can feed on the bread of life, we’re called to protect and provide from them by leading them to Jesus.

 

The shepherds are so filled with wonder by what they’ve seen, they go out into the town and tell everyone they see about this child they've met; that he’s the saviour, the Messiah, the Lord, the hope of the world. What a great response! The shepherds head back to their regular lives, but differently; they go back glorifying and praising God for everything they've heard and seen, filled with hope. We join the shepherds in celebrating this Christmas; God becoming human to be our good shepherd, coming to find us and carry us home. What wonderful news to share with our friends and neighbours as we wait for Jesus’ return!  

 

Gideon—The 300: Judges 7

                              

Last week Gideon needed to learn to see himself through God’s eyes, to place his identity in the Lord instead of how he and others saw him. Gideon needed to root his identity, just as we need to do, in God rather than the identities we choose for ourselves. Now Gideon is going to learn to trust deeply in their powerful faithful Lord to deliver them so that the Lord gets the glory instead of Gideon.

Gideon calls Israel to battle Midian. Jerub Baal, enemy of Baal, is now the mighty warrior the Lord called to battle Baal’s warriors. 32,000 men respond to Gideon’s call, but the Lord tells Gideon that there are way too many fighters and to tell those men who are afraid of the upcoming battle that they can leave Mount Gilead. 22,000 of the men decide to leave.

Gideon now has 10,000 men to go up against Midian’s army of 135,000 men, as we learn in the next chapter, and the Lord tells Gideon that he still has way too many men. The Lord whittles Gideon’s army down to 300 men by having them drink from a stream and those who lap the water like dogs get to stay while the others can leave. 300 against 135,000, that’s crazy odds, that’s looking for a heroic death, not a victory. This is not the movie The 300 based on a fictional retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae during the Greco-Persian War, which the Greeks lost anyway.

The Lord tells Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” This takes a deep faith and trust in the Lord. Now we understand why the Lord focuses so hard on getting Gideon to understand who he is through God’s eyes; so he will trust in his identity as mighty warrior because his identity is rooted in the Lord, and that the Lord will use him to defeat Midian, even with these crazy odds. Gideon allows everyone but the 300 to leave, and for this act of faith, Gideon is given a place among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.”

Now Gideon is with his men on Mount Gilead, overlooking the Midian encampment that lies like a swarm of hungry locusts ravaging the land. Now instead of Gideon asking the Lord for a sign, the Lord comes and offers Gideon a sign to strengthen Gideon’s faith and calm his fear, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” Gideon and Purah go down to the Midianite camp.

The Lord often gives us a sense of peace before he calls us to stand up for him, giving us the strength and courage to be a witness for him when we know that it might things a lot harder for us. Jesus reassures us through the Holy Spirit that he never abandons us, that he’s with us as we walk his path of faithfulness to the Father. The Holy Spirit keeps pointing us to Jesus, to reinforcing in us our identity in Jesus as the foundation of hope and strength we need as we journey through life.

As Gideon heads down with his servant Purah, they quietly come across 2 men talking about a dream one of them had. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.” His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.” Gideon hears this and his first reaction is to bow down and worship the Lord even before he actually goes into battle, showing faith and gratitude in the Lord and his faithfulness to his so often unfaithful people. A question struck me as I reflected on Gideon’s reaction to hearing the Midian soldier’s interpretation of his dream, ‘how often do we praise Jesus before he does something for us, before we receive the things we are asking for,’ whether it’s healing, guidance, or whatever? It can be really hard to praise God for healing when healing never comes; does our praise usually depend on what God does rather then on who he is?

The dream of a barley loaf, more biscuit than loaf, a very ordinary loaf overturns and collapses a tent. Israel, small and insignificant against such a powerful enemy; Israel living in caves and hiding and scavenging simply to survive, is seen by this anonymous Midian soldier in his dream from the Lord to have the ability to overturn and collapse the power of Midian and Midian’s god Baal because God has given them into Israel’s hands! Gideon knows without a doubt that the Lord is with his people, as he always has.

Charles Spurgeon sees Gideon’s story as a story of God’s providence being worked out. An un-named Midianite soldier has a specific dream at a specific time and tells it to his fellow solder just as Gideon is creeping up and can over hear him, even naming Gideon by name, and declaring Gideon’s victory over his own army, even though it’s only a dream! The writers of the Bible don’t know anything about coincidence as they see the world and history through the lenses of faith and trust in the Lord. Often, we only recognize how Jesus and the Holy Spirit have been working in and through our lives when we stop and reflect back on our lives. The challenge is to get close enough to God that we recognize the hand of the Spirit in our lives as the Spirit is working right now. This is why the church has developed things like the spiritual disciplines to help us grow deeper in our faith, closer to Jesus. This is why you were given a personal faith plan earlier this fall; it’s meant to help you identify areas and ways to grow in your faith, to help you explore where the Spirit is at work right now in your lives.

Now in an echo of the battle of Jericho, Gideon calls his 300 men together, develops a battle plan to surround the Midianite camp, giving the men empty jars with torches inside, along with a trumpet. He tells them, “Watch me. Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’” Everything goes according to plan, and even better than Gideon and his 300 men could ever imagine. At Gideon’s signal, they all break their jars, creating patches of flickering light in the darkness, blowing their trumpets, giving the impression that companies of warriors are attacking in the darkness, sowing chaos and confusion among the Midianite soldiers. The Lord sows panic in the hearts and minds of the Midianites so that they pick up their swords and weapons and begin battling each other. In their fear and panic, the men of Baal begin to run and Gideon and his men watch as the Midianite army destroys itself; a God battle at its best as the Lord shows his power over Baal.

Joni Eareckson Tada writes about the need for a powerful Jesus, “Admit it: When your heart is being wrung out like a sponge, when you feel Morton’s salt is being poured into your wounded soul, you don’t want a thin, pale, emotional Jesus who relates only to lambs and birds and babies. You want a warrior Jesus. you want his rigorous and robust gospel to command your sensibilities to stand to attention…When you’re in a dark place, when lions surround you, when you need strong help to rescue you from impossibility, you don’t want “sweet.” You don’t want faded pastels and honeyed softness. You want mighty. You want the strong arm and unshakeable grip of God who will not let you go—no matter what.”

The men previously dismissed by Gideon now re-enter the story as they respond to Gideon’s call to drive Midian out of Israel. They capture two of the Midianite leaders; killing them and taking their heads. The Lord has stepped in and delivered his people again, remaining faithful to his covenant with them, but doing it in such a way that there can be no mistaking that it was the Lord who saved them, that he is the power God; Baal’s unable to stop God. This points us straight to Jesus being our deliverer and his saving us from the chains of our sin and Satan’s grip on us. Just like there’s nothing we can do to save ourselves from our sins, in the same way, it’s all God, all Jesus, all grace and faithfulness to us where we find salvation, forgiveness, grace, and new life. Accept Jesus as your saviour, confess you cannot do life on your own, and Jesus will give you his Spirit to strengthen you and guide you through the good and hard times of life.