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Don Filcek; Luke 2:14 On Earth as It Is In Heaven
Podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Vilsack preaches from his series, Christmas Praise, poems of worship from the Gospel of Luke.
Let's listen in. Well, good morning everybody. Merry Christmas. I am really glad to be gathered together this morning on the Lord's Day. It only happens obviously once every few years that Christmas falls on a Sunday, so we get kind of a double bonus this morning, right?
Like both family reflections and then family reflection together on what this day means. I'm planning on preaching a shorter message than you thought possible this morning, and we're going to spend the bulk of our time together singing songs.
I'm going to be bringing the message first, and I'm kind of doing that at the risk of people filing in halfway through the message, but I'm going to do that intentionally. I always look for opportunities to do that because I think it's so awesome when we can hear from God's Word and then respond together in praise.
So that's what we're going to do this morning. We're going to hear from God's Word, and then we're going to respond together in obedience to what the text is indicating for us. And so I'm going to be bringing this short message so we can respond to the praise from the angels that are given to those shepherds on that night some 2 ,000 years ago.
So let's open your Bibles or your devices to Luke 2, verse 14. It's a very short verse. It would probably take you longer to turn there than it's going to take me to read it, but there's something good about just opening it up and seeing that the things that I'm saying are coming from God's Word directly.
I'm going to read this single verse that's set in the middle of a larger context. It's a context that extends all the way back. You've got to remember that when you're reading in the Bible, you're reading something that extends all the way back to, in the beginning, God created.
It goes all the way back to Genesis 1. One is really where it all started. But let's read the word spoken by that heavenly host of angels to the shepherds in the field that night at the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Luke 2, verse 14 says, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Let me say that again. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
Let's take a moment to pray. Father, we thank you so much for that announcement that was given that we're going to dissect and kind of pull apart and that's meant to bring praise into our hearts. Father, I pray that you would press on us the things that you desire to communicate to us, but most importantly, I believe that you desire to communicate an emotional response in us this morning of gratitude, of thanks, of just the radical awe and wonder of what incarnation means, what it means in heaven, and what it means here on earth, what you have done in our history to change the future destiny of those who are yours.
And so, Father, I pray that you would press that in us in a way that is fresh and new and awe-inspiring this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. All right. Well, in this text, there are just two kind of brief things that I want to point out.
Two places are places, geographical locations. Two locations are intended to be brought to our attention by the words that the angels gave to the shepherds that night. Our attention is turned to a place that the angels call the highest, and then the second place our attention is drawn to is the heaven and earth, the highest and earth.
The angels are ministering spirits, in case you're kind of like, well, what really is an angel and what's going on there? You need to understand that they're ministering spirits who go back and forth between the highest and earth.
They go back and forth between heaven and earth on their missions, doing the bidding of God Almighty. And here, these angels are specifically serving as messengers between heaven and earth. And they give a report of what the birth of Jesus means in heaven, where they're coming from.
They're coming from there, and they're coming to earth to report what they've just experienced in heaven, and they want earth to see. They want us to be brought into what they just took in is going on in heaven at that moment.
And they also want to communicate what then that news means for us here on earth. When the angels state, by the way, glory to God in the highest, there might be some misunderstandings. You've probably heard that phrase many times, many Christmases.
But glory to God in the highest is not speaking about the extremity of the glory. It's not an adjective explaining the glory as if it's highest glory being given. Rather, it's a noun. It's a location.
It's a place, the highest, the highest place. There's parallel within verse 14. Glory in the highest, it's a place where glory is happening, and then peace on earth, both locations. So we see two things happening in two different places in this text, in this one verse.
The angels want us all to be aware of what the birth of this one means, because the incarnation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ shakes both heaven and earth. The first thing that we see in this text is in heaven, the birth means glory to God.
That's what's going on in heaven, glory to God. Why do the angels want to report to earth what's going on in the highest place at the birth of Jesus? Why are they troubled? Why are they taking the time to come here and explain and report what's going on up there?
How many of you think about what's going on in heaven regularly? Probably not a ton, right? It would be glorious for us to be more mindful of the fact that we have our Lord and Savior interceding on our behalf at the right hand of God the Father right now.
How many of you just say that's pretty glorious? That's an amazing reality. But the activity of heaven only matters, hear me carefully, it only matters if we care what God thinks about things. It only matters if we care what God thinks about things.
If we recognize Him as central and we recognize His glory as our primary goal, the primary reason we're breathing air, the primary reason that we're here alive today is His glory, then what happens in heaven matters more than what's going on anywhere.
More than what happens anywhere. And in heaven, the birth of Jesus resounds. At His birth, heaven erupts in glory and praise to God. That's what's going on there when they celebrate His birth. In a very practical sense, it's helpful for us to understand the cosmic significance of the birth of this one.
Heaven is on fire with glory on that night. And the angels, at least some of them, it doesn't tell us every single one of them showed up, but they are sent to report about the party of glory to God going on in heaven at the birth of Jesus.
We, of course, many of our stories and many messages I've heard over Christmases in the past make much of who the report is given to, right? Who receives this report? Lowly, lowly shepherds. They're the recipients of this.
They're the ones that are out there in the darkness in the night when boom, the light and the messenger angel and then he's joined by all the others. And of course, we always call it a choir. It doesn't say it's a choir of angels, but they come and they make these declarations that we've read.
But the shepherds are awake in the field and they're as good a target as anyone. Obviously, they were successful in the mission that God had for them for getting the word out. They report it, it's recorded for us, and we are moved to celebrate here this morning in Matawan, Michigan at the end of 2022 because of a faithful report of some angels in a field one night, right?
So did God choose well? God chose well who to report it to because they were faithful messengers who brought it forward. As far as application, I've been pressed this Christmas to more praise to God for the sending forth of his son, and I hope that you can testify the same.
Our first application, of course, is to take our role seriously, to pray for, to pray for more and more of his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven, there is great glory given to God for the birth of his son.
So here in the remainder of our service, my hope and prayer is that we can mirror the glory that is going on in heaven at the birth and the incarnation that's being given to God, that glory, that praise, that enthusiasm, that that's somehow mirrored in our gathering here.
The second location spoken of by the angels is here on earth, and of course we know it says peace here on earth. Here on earth, the birth of this child to Mary in Bethlehem spells peace among humans. Peace not meaning the absence of war, but the right, the breaking in of right behaviors, the breaking in of things like the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
A life of peace is one where relationships are rightly ordered, where they're coming back together again, that which is broken, that which is shattered. Think about the the shattering of relationships and the way that that looked in the garden and the reality of that.
Well, what's being restored when we talk about peace? A right relationship with God, a right relationship to the world, and a right relationship to one another. Three fundamental relationships that all of us can relate to.
All of us can relate to the fact that there are, there's a break in our relationship with God where we feel shame, we feel animosity, we can feel even frustration with Him and the way that He does things.
Frustration with our relationship with the world, well what do I mean? I mean, I'm going further than global warming or littering on this one. I'm going to talk about like tsunamis and catastrophes and things like that.
How many of you know that the world is broken? Like broken things happen, like just catastrophes and a break in the way that the world interacts with us. And then, of course, I don't need to get into any details because it's Christmas and you spent some time with family.
So, relationships with one another, right? Relationships with one another can get pretty busted up and broken and despite the fact that some of you have really great family lives, others just can relate to that and there's other things going on.
There's neighbors, there's all kinds of co-worker issues and bosses and all kinds of things that can be broken there, right? So, about these relationships and we might well doubt that as I'm talking, is there really peace on earth?
Is that real? And as the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, second to the earth I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill to men. Church, you got to answer the question.
Did the angels get this one wrong? Were they wrong that night when they declared peace on earth? Is there peace here? But note that peace is a qualified peace here. The peace is among a specific people, his people, the ones on whom his favor rests.
We who benefit from the birth of this baby. The angels say it is those who receive the peace that are those who receive his pleasure. We have received his peace as we have received his son. If you have received his son Jesus Christ, then you are in his peace.
We live in his peace now because we do not live for today that might contain catastrophes, that might contain broken relationships, that might contain illnesses that strike. No, we don't live in today, we live for eternity.
And as we live in peace for eternity, we will live in peace for eternity because he will return to establish his eternal kingdom of love and joy and peace. And that was established at his coming. That's what the angels are all about.
It's coming. Peace is has broken in, it's made a beachhead in this world through the birth of this baby. And it's spreading like wildfire. Peace is real. He is ushering in a kingdom where death will be no more.
He is establishing in us, in us church, in his people upon whom his favor rests. We who have received him by faith and we who are entrusted with and trusting him with life, eternal life. He's ushering in a kingdom where death will be no more, pain, suffering, sin, loneliness, disease, lack, and all sin will be done away with forever and ever and ever and ever.
And I couldn't exhaust all the evers after that. And so Henry Wadsworth Longfellow concluded his poem with his final verse, the shift in the change, the shift in the change, realizing that the peace that God is offering is not a earthly peace, a worldly peace, a peace that at the end of the day just solves every problem that you have, but will one day solve every problem that you have.
And so he says this, then peeled the bells more loud and clear, loud and deep. God is not dead, nor doth he sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on earth. Goodwill to men. Peace indeed, church.
Good news indeed. God is glorified in his making a move to rescue and making that beachhead to come among us and solve and begin the solution to our problems of sin and death. Peace is now a reality, church, and it's available to any and all who trust him by faith.
How do you know, ask yourself this question, how do I know his favor and his peace is upon my life? How do you know he is pleased with you? Well, you can tell by your faith and trust in him. Is it a fact that you love him?
Is it a fact that you want him to be pleased? If this is true of you, then this is a sign that his pleasure rests on you. We're going to have some time here of singing and all kinds of songs, actually, between now and communion, and so I'm going to explain communion now, but then Dave is going to later say, hey, this is the song that you get up and you take communion to.
So I'm going to go ahead and explain it here for just a minute, but since I wanted to take a moment this morning, because we have a lot of younger children with us, I didn't want to squander this opportunity this morning.
I encourage you to make it a point to speak with your children or your grandchildren that are here with you about communion, and that this is something that we do to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us.
Communicate with them this morning. They don't get to see this very often. Often they're back in the kids program, so they don't observe this. So explain the cracker that represents the body of Jesus Christ broken for us.
Explain the juice that represents his blood shed for us. I remember, by the way, when I was eight years old, I thought that it was snack time in church, and I got a little salty with my mom because she always passed the snack right by me, and I never got to have any.
I mean, I remember that. Don't let that be your child this morning. Maybe even during connection time, take a minute to talk with your kids about the significance of his birth. Talk to them about the significance of his sinless life, and ultimately his sacrificial death for us.
And then let's spend the remainder of our time rejoicing as they do in heaven, for the promise of peace has been secured by the arrival of Jesus Christ in the flesh for us. So let's pray as Dave comes to lead us in celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior this morning in song.
Father, I do rejoice, and I am thankful for the declaration of what's going on in heaven. We know that there is rejoicing. We know that there is celebration. We know that there is enthusiastic praise and glory being given to you, because your Son has come and sealed it for us.
And we know that there's eternal praise now in your presence, that we will one day join with the many around your throne who are singing praises to you now. Father, I pray that even now we would get a foretaste of that in the gathering of your people here on this Christmas morning.
And I pray that we would get just a flavor of peace, a flavor of right relationships, a taste for the things that you love to give to your children. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, a restoring relationship with you, a restoring relationship with the world around us that we look forward to and long for even as the creation groans for the settling of all accounts.
And even as we think about our relationship with others, that we ought to be, as your people, the foretaste for many in our community of what peace looks like. I pray that you would create that reality here in this church in this coming year.
We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.