Sunday, December 17 , 2023 AM

The Birth of Christ and the Songs of Luke

Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day with many blessings You have already poured out upon us and in our midst. Lord, we give You the praise. Thank You for these children that You have saved their souls.

You have given them new birth and that they testify of their Savior Jesus Christ by their baptisms. And we thank You for these songs that have directed our attention to Christ, His person, His work, this good news that fills our hearts with these songs, giving glory to You.

And I pray that this morning, that as we read Your Word together, that You would be praised, that You would be glorified, that You would give us a clear view of Your Son Jesus Christ in this Word. That by Your grace there would be an amen in our hearts from Your will expressed from heaven, that we would look like Christ in this world.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Luke, chapter 2. Luke, chapter 2. And I echo my brother Ken. Church, He is given. He is given indeed.

We can rejoice and should rejoice in this wondrous truth. We have been looking at the carols, the hymns, the songs in the Gospel of Luke. Singing carols, singing songs to the praise of God because of Jesus Christ goes back a long way in Christian churches and Christian celebration and worship.

And we see that certainly here in the Gospel of Luke. And there are four songs that are expressed as prayers and prophecies, praises, that all have their names back when the Bible was translated into Latin.

And the first one, of course, sung by Mary is the Magnificat. The second by Zacharias is Benedictus. And here are the third, sung by the angels. And we've been singing the angel song, Gloria. There's been two angelic visits by Gabriel.

There have been two promised sons. There have been two miraculous conceptions. There have been two praise-filled responses. And one of the sons, John, has been born to great excitement and anticipation.

But now we turn to the promised seed, Jesus Christ himself, long desired, born. I invite you to stand with me if you are able. We're going to read God's holy word. Luke 2, beginning in verse 1. And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into 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 wife, who was with child.

So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, and this will be the sign to you.

You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, 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, good will toward men.

You may be seated. This is the word of the Lord. We praise God together. You may have heard and you may remember this particular passage read aloud in the resonant mid-Atlantic tones of Alexander Scorby, reading the King James Version.

If you've never heard that, look it up. It's on YouTube. You may also remember hearing this passage read in the thoughtful and innocent voice of Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas special. Perhaps a grandfather or grandmother, a mother or a father, read this very passage to you on one Christmas Eve or Christmas morning.

But no matter who reads it, we recognize the sound of this passage. It is not the sound of Luke the author. We don't know what he sounded like. It is not the sound of the servant who would have read this aloud to Luke's patron Theophilus.

We don't know what the angels exactly sounded like or how the shepherds sounded in their joyous shouting. And yet there is still a familiar sound to this passage no matter who reads it, a timbre and a tone that remains even when we read it silently to ourselves.

It is the deep rush of grace. It is the dawning swell of hope. It is the bright chimes of joy. Here the Father declares the Son by the Spirit. Here we resonate with the worshipful and the transformational Amen.

We have been made for our Creator's glory. And by His peace in us comes His praise from us. And all this by our Mediator, our Savior, Jesus Christ. The wonder of Christmas, what we do when we worship and celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ this season, the wonder of Christmas must mean worship to the Creator.

And we may only come before Him and His glory by the welcome that we have in Jesus Christ, His Son. Good news we sing, joy far and nigh. We see in verses 1 through 10 of Luke that we just read, and it came to pass in those days.

It came to pass in those days. Those were the days of Roman might. The peace of Rome, the Pax Romana, was brutally enforced by a standing mercenary army throughout the Mediterranean basin. And they had this on such a lockdown that they boldly, proudly described the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum, our sea.

Caesar Augustus flexes his grip, and the masses are coerced before his two-edged gladius. And in Judea, amongst the Jews, there is no mistaking who wins this contest. The eagle has the lamb in its talons, and Joseph has no choice.

He must go to Bethlehem to be registered, to be counted, to be taxed. Thus saith the Lord of Rome. This is His decree. However, there is another word at work. There is another decree that has been declared.

Arrangements have been made for a son of David to be born in Bethlehem. And so it was. Jesus was born. Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ, the Son of the living God, man of very man, God of very God, born of the Virgin Mary for us and for our salvation.

Caesar may decree. Caesar Augustus may decree a lot. Governors and kings and politicians today may say, this shall be in decree. But all occurs exactly and only as God has decreed. Augustus described himself as Lord and Savior of the world.

These were his titles that he believed belonged to him. But all he can do is harry and tax. Some Lord, some Savior. A different word, a higher word is declared from heaven. Now Caesar will say to the world, be afraid.

For I bring threats and great burdens upon all people. But the angel of God brings the Father's word by the spirit of His Son. Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be for all people.

Those were the days. Those were the days of good news. These are the days of good news. Christ is born. It came to pass in those days, and those were the days of angelic visitation. Whispers of revelation, whispering loud, declaring the end of 400 years of silence.

There came a day when Malachi no longer heard from the Lord. He was no longer carried along by the Holy Spirit to write down, thus saith the Lord. There was no more rain of revelation from heaven upon listening ears on the earth.

A drought of sound. But now, Gabriel has appeared twice. Now the Holy Spirit moves, and the dry wadis begin to fill. The poor and needy had sought water, and the Lord heard them. Their tongues failed for thirst, but God says, I, the Lord, will hear them.

I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers in desolate heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

Those were the days of good news. And these are the days of good news. And it came to pass in those days, and those were the days of Mary's pregnancy. A virgin with child. A sign of God as Savior. That He keeps His promises.

That God would be with His people. Isaiah 7 .14,. Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel. God with us, and so for us.

The spoils of the enemy and the bounty of the strong man would all be spirited away. All the enemies will find their place as a footstool for this King's feet, beneath the feet of this Son of David. For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end. Upon the throne of David, and over His kingdom, to order it and establishment with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.

And it is the zeal of the Lord of hosts that will perform this. And this is good news to all people. This peace, this reign, this King for all people. This promise was not just for the Jews who were living on the eschatological edge of Daniel's calendar.

This was for all people. The King to come was not just the King of the Jews, He was the Son of Man, of all mankind. Isaiah 11 says,. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him. Verse 10 of Isaiah 11,. In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who will stand as a banner to the people. For the Gentiles shall seek him, and his resting place shall be glorious.

Those were the days of good news. And these are the days of good news. It came to pass in those days, in those days the shepherds were living out in the fields, watching over their flocks by night. They were raising holy lambs to be sacrificed by the priests.

The priests in Jerusalem. And these shepherds would soon adore the Lamb of God. Those were the days of Bethlehem's insignificance, but suddenly overpopulated, simply because it was the birthplace of David the King.

The King! And those were the days when God kept his promise concerning Bethlehem that he gave by his prophet. The prophet, Amos chapter 5, verse 2,. But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me, one to be a ruler in Israel.

Verse 5 says,. This one shall be our peace. Bethlehem of the prophets. Bethlehem of the priests. Bethlehem of the king. From Bethlehem, from this house of bread, comes the bread of life from heaven, the Messiah, the anointed prophet, priest, and king.

Those were the days of good news. These are the days of good news. Good news we sing, joy far and nigh. What was announced by the angels was heard by the shepherds. And what is the focus of all this good news?

Every aspect of the good news is all about who Jesus is, what he has come to do, what he has accomplished. You want to know what the good news is about? Jesus Christ is the good of the good news, and he's the news of the good news.

He encapsulates everything about the gospel that has been given to us, something we celebrate every Christmas, indeed, every Sunday. Good news we sing, joy far and nigh, a king of lowly birth, a king of lowly birth.

In verse 7, we read that Mary brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, which is an animal's feeding trough, probably carved out of stone. Why? Because there was no room for them in the inn.

Either the local inn or the local extra guest room, there's just no room for Joseph and Mary to have a place, an interior place where she can give birth to her son, Jesus. What a lowly birth for the king of kings and the Lord of lords that he would be born among the beasts, among the animals.

The angels declare glory and wonder and appear to the shepherds to tell them what? Verse 11, for there is born to you this day, born to you, not around you, not above you, but to you, directed for your good, there is born to you this day in the city of David.

Everybody knows that's Bethlehem. A Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. Born this day. Why do we need a Savior?

Why do we need so great a Savior? Because we are so great a sinner. Every single one of us made in the image of God, made in the image of our Creator. With that comes expectations, instructions, desires, designs.

God made us in His image for His glory and we have fallen short of the glory of God. We are in a uniform that we can never take off and never deny. And we live AWOL. We live breaking that uniform code simply by being made in the image of God.

We break that image when we sin and we sin greatly. We need a Savior. We need a Savior. And in Genesis we recall that God declares to Adam and Eve that in the day that they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as soon as they try to determine for themselves what good and evil is and disobey God and they ate that fruit, in the day that they ate of it they would die.

But He did not leave them without hope. He promised them a seed, a Savior, one who would come and who would defeat evil, who would stomp the head of the serpent. But things would be different now. What would it be like for Adam when he tried to raise food, to provide for his family?

What would it be like for Adam and Eve's relationship? What would it be like for Eve, the mother of all the living, to give birth full of pain, full of danger, full of threat? And so Mary, her birthing pains come upon her and she must lay down among the animals.

They must take shelter among the beasts. We may imagine Joseph's alarm and Mary's labor, the infant's heart beating way too fast. Panic blooms, the frantic mind, the braying mule, the wretched pain, the praying screams, and the veil of death looms as the fire of life burns, as breathing is in the balance.

What will come from these torrential rapids, tumbling and passing through the valley of the shadow, such is giving birth. And we move from Genesis 3 and we come alongside the Apostle John and we see a different picture.

From Revelation 12, and there we see at the birth of Christ the dragon looming aflame, red and dire, seven heads snapping, ten horns glistening with pride, the mouths gaping with hunger, and he lunges, sheol, beckons, an appetite never satisfied.

But the maw is stayed, and death is stalled, and God says, not until the time. And Christ is born, he is preserved, and he is kept, and he offers himself up to God, not in the manger, but on the cross.

The infant holy, the infant lowly, though born and exposed in lowly, desperate circumstances, is preserved and is sustained for the all-important death upon the cross. And in his resurrection, and in his ascension, we clearly there see the fulfillment of those Christmas promises.

There's the Son of David, there's the Savior, Christ the Lord, ruling all nations with a rod of iron. And look at his heel. Look at his heel. It is brutalized. Why? Because he has crushed the head of the dragon.

The shepherds don't see the dragon. They were not there for that life and death struggle as Mary gave birth by the grace of God. What they find is a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a feeding trough.

What a wonder. What a wonder. There, there is the Lamb of God, whose sacrifice counts for the peace offering, the meal that reconciles creator to man, the bread of life come down from heaven, the kernel of wheat that must die to grant us life, the lofty king of lowly birth.

In this God affirms to us the wonder and the truth of the incarnation, the grace of Emmanuel. Good news we sing, joy far and nigh, a king of lowly birth gives praise to God who reigns on high. Verses 13 and 14 in Luke chapter 2.

And suddenly, after this announcement by the one angel, suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest. Heaven's glory is dangerous.

When an angel shows up in the Bible, it is not an attractive woman with wings. It is a man in white and his face aflame with the bellows of Sinai. And they must always say, do not be afraid. Because fear is all that the audience knows.

It is a great grace to be brought before the glory of God and yet live there in the peace of God. Can you imagine trying to keep your wits about you when the first angel appears and pronounces the decree of God, the promise of God, the sign of God, that you would find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, trying to keep your wits about you when the first angel appears.

But then suddenly there appears with him a countless choir all praising God together. It would be like at sea on your 20-foot cutter, suddenly confronted with a rogue wave, only to crash through on the other side.

And as your vision clears, you see nothing but the wall of foaming green roaring up to the heavens and you rocketing up to your fate. And in this moment, past, present, and future considerations all consolidate to one thought, I was never in control of anything my entire life.

My life is in the hands of God alone. And this, dear brothers and sisters, is the state of the believer every single day before the face of God. The fear of God will attack you in the middle of the night.

Just ask Jacob. He wrestled all night long and he was never the same. When we come to realize the power and the glory of God, we may then limp to the vaults of our self-determination, but we will find it ransacked by the glory of God.

When we hear, glory to God in the highest, that is not a nice thought. That is a good thought, but it is not nice at all. It is dangerous to us who are sinners before God. Extremely dangerous to man. How can we see God and live?

We are never closer to the eternal damnation of God than when we stand before His glory, glory offended at us. And we are never farther away from such death and damnation than when we stand there in Christ's righteousness.

Fully accepted to God on the merits of another. Glory to God in the highest. Notice it doesn't stop there. If that's all there is, then we are doomed. But, the next stanza. Glory to God in the highest, peace, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.

And on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. Verse 15, and so it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.

So they came with haste. They found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all those who heard it marveled at the things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen as it was told them. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.

We must thank God that glory to him in the highest is not in opposition to peace and goodwill towards the likes of us. But in fact, God's peace and goodwill towards us is unto that ultimate goal of glory to God.

And how these things reconcile can only be understood in the good news of Jesus Christ. What a delight of a man of great political power and standing and wealth, a good man. If he would take notice of you and your family, and he would call you to visit with him, and he would come and visit with you, and he would bestow mighty gifts upon you, and he would say kind things to you, and invite you in to various places of privilege and power.

How infinitely greater that the creator of the universe would speak peace and goodwill towards you and I. And look at the peace that is brought. Now, is this peace? We may not recognize it as peace. The shepherds, having heard what the angels have said, they say, let us make haste.

Let us hurry. Let us rush to go to Bethlehem. And when they see what is there, they make widely known the saying that was told them concerning the child. They tell everybody they can. They interrupt people's conversations.

They are insistent. They are repetitive. They are loud. And all those who hear it marvel. They're amazed. They're distracted. Before, all their thoughts ran into a normal direction, a routine, boring direction.

But now, they have all manner of new thoughts, and they're amazed, and they're marveling. And then Mary keeps all these things, ponders them in her heart, the things that the shepherds said, that the angels told them.

And then notice that the shepherds are not the same. Having seen the Lord, they return glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, just as it was told them. This is the effect of God's work in the incarnation.

We are brought peace, but it is not a peace that leaves us the same. It is not a peace that allows us to be in the calmer moments of our normal routines. When Shiloh brings shalom, when Christ brings peace, it is of a sort that transforms our lives and changes everything about us.

And this peace is good news. Peace is especially good news to those who have been long in war. How treasured the word of peace is to those who have long been at war. How long had it been war? All day long, God stretched out His hands to a rebellious and stiff-necked people.

He sent Isaiah to preach the people's ears shut and teach the people's eyes closed. He told Jeremiah to stop interceding, to stop praying for the idolatrous people. He exposed the shallow self-centeredness of the people and their sad forms of worship through Haggai and Malachi.

The people of Israel groaned under the curses of the old covenant. God is at war against them before their sin is exceedingly sinful. And indeed the whole world groaned under a curse and longed for the new creation that had to begin where the problem started, which was the image of God.

And so now, in the giving of His Son, who is the image of the invisible God, God brings peace. In this way, Shiloh, to whom it all belongs, brings shalom. He brings peace between God and man, that we would be right with God and welcome to God and know His smile as His children.

Peace between God and man. Peace between man and man. Why can I be at peace with you? Why can I be at peace with my neighbor? Why can I be at peace with my enemy? Because of who Christ is. Because of His reign.

Peace between heaven and earth. Peace among the nations. Peace in the family. Peace in the man and the woman and the child standing before the face of God. That is God's goodwill toward us. And it is God's goodwill toward us righteously rendered through His Son's life, death, and resurrection.

This is the promise of the gospel of the kingdom. This is the principle of our King's reign. There is only one, only one, who mediates heaven's glory as man's peace, and that is the man, Christ Jesus.

This is why the choir sang as they did. This is why the angels sang as they did. Glory, glory, glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace and goodwill towards men. No matter who reads this passage, the passage retains a particular sound.

It retains a particular tone and timber of grace and hope and joy. God's desire is that as this word sounds to us, that it would resound in us, and that we would bring forth this season and beyond the same grace, hope, and joy everybody around us, just like those shepherds.

May our voices take on the tone and the inflection and the joy of this passage as we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ this season. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this day. We thank You for this word.

Lord, we thank You that it is Your plan that matters, that brings about the good that is to Your glory. We thank You for giving us Your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank You for this season to rejoice in the fulfillment of Your promises in Your Son.

And I pray that as we sing, and as we speak, as we fellowship, as we celebrate, that we would boast in You, boast in Your Son, and that we would do so by Your Spirit. We pray all these things for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Amen.