Christmas Candlelight Service

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Well, good evening and welcome to our Christmas Candlelight Service. If you're looking forward to a good service of focusing our attention on the real reason for our revelry at this time of year, which is the birth of our
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Savior. I hope you received a program when you came in that gives you a, you can follow along in the schedule and folks will just participate in order as they appear on this schedule and no need for any introduction.
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I wanna begin with reading in Luke's gospel, the second chapter and the account of the visit of the shepherds, all right.
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Luke chapter two, beginning in verse six. Says, so it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her, for Mary, to be delivered.
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And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger because there was no room for them in the inn.
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Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, so much for that candle, out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night.
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And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid.
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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.
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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 clothes lying in a manger.
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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, goodwill toward men.
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And so it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the
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Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.
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Now when they had seen him, they made known widely the saying which was told them concerning this child.
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And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
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Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told them.
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Let's begin with hymn number 196 in your hymnal, Angels We Have Heard on High.
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Let's stand together as we sing. You may be seated.
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Katerina von Griegenburg wrote the following. The highest God above all the heavens sent an ambassador, one of the most glorious angels down to earth, to Galilee, a poor obscure spot on the way to Nazareth and unimportant little hamlet, to a virgin who was the most insignificant and lowliest of maidens, the betrothed of a simple common carpenter.
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In this simplicity, however, the divine trinity showed its greatest wisdom in that it knew both how to find in the greatest lowliness capacity for virtue and how to impart the capacity for divine things to the most wretched incapacity.
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The divine trinity showed its omnipotence in the ability to exalt a little speck of earth to heavenly spectacles and splendid miracles.
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It displays its goodness by electing the most miserable things for the purpose of the elevation of the triune
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God, displaying grace there where at the beginning one and all the rest of the world would not have expected it.
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Who would believe that the king of kings, the Lord of all potentates, would dispatch an angel as an ambassador to a poor maiden, the wife of an artisan?
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What is more absurd before the world and yet better disposed for the dispensation of heaven?
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Poverty and lowliness are no hindrance to divine calling. As little as they could take from her the right of inheritance of her royal birth from the house of David and still less the gracious election of God whose piercing eyes see through all the mountains of misery the small flash of the medal of virtue that his hand has placed within them.
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He selected her from the very beginning of eternity for this high honor and from that same beginning made her fit for it.
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And so he therefore suffered her to be called to it as well. For all divine calling has its root and foundation in eternal divine providence.
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Let's pray together, shall we? So our Father and our God, we praise you tonight for your gracious and almighty, powerful, sovereign divine providence.
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We thank you for how it is so beautifully displayed in such a humble manner as in Bethlehem a couple thousand years ago.
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We thank you and praise you for that. We also praise you for the opportunity of gathering together tonight to reflect upon our
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Savior's birth and the importance and the significance of it to us in this day, 2 ,000 years later.
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Bless this time we pray and we ask it in the name of Jesus, amen. Encourage you to reflect on these words about the incarnation of the
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Lord Jesus written by Thomas Watson. He wrote, he was poor that he might make us rich.
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He was born of a virgin that we might be born of God. He took our flesh that he might give us his spirit.
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He lay in the manger that we might lie in paradise. He came down from heaven that he might bring us to heaven.
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That the ancient of days should be born. That he who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle.
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That he who rules the stars should suck the breast. That a virgin should conceive.
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That Christ should be made of a woman and of that woman which he himself made.
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That the branch should bear the vine. That the mother should be younger than the child she bore and the child in the womb bigger than the mother.
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That the human nature should not be God, yet one with God. This was not only amazing, this was miraculous.
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♪ Angels from the rose sang creation's story ♪ ♪
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Now proclaim Messiah's worship, worship, worship ♪ ♪
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Shepherds in the fox finds her ship ♪
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Of this beautiful carol was called Home. The mother of a little girl of five who had been one of his special favorites entered the room where the child was playing, holding the little face between her hands.
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She said tearfully, Bishop Brooks has gone to heaven. Oh mama, she replied, how happy the angels will be.
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The idea for this song had been simmering in the heart of Phillips Brooks since 1865 when on a trip abroad he was able to spend
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Christmas in Bethlehem. This for his day was unusual and was an experience he would never forget.
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On Sunday, December 24th, he rode on horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem and as twilight was falling, he went out to the field where tradition says the shepherd saw the glory of the
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Lord. As he looked toward the little town of Bethlehem, with the moon acting as a luminator and the stars shining in the sky, he witnessed a scene much the same as the shepherds had witnessed almost 2 ,000 years before, except for the absence of the great light and the shepherds, nothing much had changed.
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Instead of a candle to light their way, some who were traveling through the quiet streets were using lamps.
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There also were no angels present, yet the aura of the occasion lent a holy hush to the surroundings.
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Speaking of this experience, in a letter to his Sunday school in Philadelphia, Phillips Brooks wrote, again and again it seems
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I could hear voices telling each other of the wonderful night of the Savior's birth. All this while the words of a new carol were singing in his heart.
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But it would not be until he came home to America that he would write them down. And this did not happen until just a short while before Christmas, 1868.
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While preparing the Christmas service for the Sunday school, he began to review the music he would use.
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A re -echoing of the Christmas Eve he had spent in the shepherd's field, shepherd fields overlooking
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Bethlehem flooded through his soul, along with the carol that had been singing in his heart since that time.
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He could contain it no longer, and as it burst forth, he began to write. Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie above thy deep and dreamless sleep.
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The silent stars go by. On and on it flowed until, as a river reaches the sea, so his inspired words too, which the zenith of what
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Christmas is all about as he exclaims, oh come to us, abide with us, our
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Lord Emmanuel. Phillips Brooks then hurriedly left his study and walked to the home of Mr.
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Lewis Redner, who was the organist of the church. Upon showing him his poem,
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Mr. Redner consented to try his hand at writing an appropriate melody. His effort proved successful, and today in all of hymnology, there can be found no tune which so greatly enhances a set of words as does this one.
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There were many very happy children that Christmas in the Sunday school of the
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Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia as they sang for the first time the carol that their own pastor had written for them.
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In the years to come, it would be an important part of each of their Christmas celebrations, but it would take more than 20 years before it would receive general recognition and be snug around the world.
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And so let us sing it, number 217 in your hymnal. Oh little town of Bethlehem.
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Luke chapter two, verses 25 through 35. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was
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Simeon. And this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.
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And the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the
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Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the
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Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child
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Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed
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God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.
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For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the
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Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.
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Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against.
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Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
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♪ To the sky, how
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Jesus the Savior did come for to die ♪ ♪
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The sky, how stars, men and farmers and shepherds and ♪
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Let's turn again in our hymnals to number 197, the carol, It Came Upon the
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Midnight Clear. Some of our hymns that we sing today were not specifically composed, rather they evolved.
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The song O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is one such hymn. This Advent hymn came to take shape more than a thousand years ago.
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In a series of seven Vesper services preceding Christmas, church choirs traditionally sang each night a different verse addressed to Christ.
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300 years later, these separate verses were united and a refrain was added and the result was a hymn.
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About 100 years ago, the hymn was translated from Latin into English and it is just now becoming known to many
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Christian congregations. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, the hymn is a prayer that anticipates the coming of Christ to this earth.
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His coming as Messiah, Deliverer, was first prophesied in the sixth century B .C.
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when the Jews were captive in Babylon. For centuries thereafter, faithful Hebrews looked for their
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Messiah with great longing and anticipation, echoing the prayer that he would ransom captive Israel.
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Indeed, many Jews are still looking for their Messiah because they failed to recognize
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Jesus as the promised one. Jesus Christ, the
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Redeemer, capstone of man's longing through the ages, is addressed in the first stanza of the hymn as Emmanuel.
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The words of Matthew 1 .23 corroborate the prophecy in Isaiah 7 .14, behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and shall call his name
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Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.
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From beginning to end, all the stanzas of the hymn remind us of Christ's first advent and project our intention to his second coming.
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Temptation must necessarily be a part of the Christian's life. The real home of the believer is with Christ in heaven.
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Here on earth, he is, in a sense, an exile. One day, like a glorious sunrise,
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Christ will pierce the clouds and bring us final and total victory over death.
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The hymn's title is similar to the words of the next to the last verse of the Bible. Even so, come,
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Lord Jesus. And we can joyfully echo the refrain, rejoice, rejoice,
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Emmanuel shall come. Newsflash, there is a great deal of revelry that goes on around this time of year.
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Have you noticed that? It happens in all kinds of venues, doesn't it? Last week,
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I think it was, at the end of the school year, or, well, at the end of the school session, there's all kinds of partying going on in the classrooms, and of course, these were holiday parties, but revelry nonetheless.
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Some of you have worked for companies that sponsored a company Christmas party or holiday party or whatever you called it, but there was some revelry going on in that setting as well.
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It happens all over the place, and it happens among all kinds of people. Doesn't matter who they are, it doesn't matter what their background and so forth.
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People who are complete secularists who have no concern whatsoever about, you know,
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Christmas as a religious thing, well, they're engaged in all kinds of revelry, too. Jews engage in it, there's
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Hanukkah going on about this time, but also, you know, total pagans.
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Several years ago, we had the opportunity of going on a missions trip to Singapore and Malaysia, and it was right at Thanksgiving time, and just after Thanksgiving, we went to the downtown area of Singapore, which is predominantly
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Hindu, and what isn't Hindu is Buddhist, and then there's this very, very small, small, tiny fraction of people who would be
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Christian, and you walk down the main street, Cherry Street, I think it is, in Singapore, among all the high -end stores, kind of like Fifth Avenue in New York City, and they're all decked out with Christmas decorations, all kinds of revelry, even among pagans.
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Children are engaged in revelry this time of year, young people, adults, middle -aged people, it's even happening in assisted living facilities, too, everywhere, why, what's the basis for it all?
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Well, I suppose for some people, it's just got to do with family traditions, it's the time of year when we all get together as family, and we do our thing, whatever that thing might happen to be in that particular family, or perhaps it's because the revelry goes on because the company is sponsoring an office party, and everybody's gonna get a bonus, maybe of some kind or another, maybe a turkey, or maybe a cash bonus, but the company sponsors it, or maybe it's simply because it's a declared holiday, and man, anytime there's a declared holiday, there's some reason for celebrating, right?
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And this time of year, it's not just a holiday, it's a season, it's a whole season, began three weeks ago with Thanksgiving, and it won't end until after the new year, and this whole season is a time of revelry.
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What about us, what about us? We're here tonight presumably because we recognize there's something more important, something deeper to the significance of this season than decorations and mere revelry for revelry's sake.
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What about Christians? Do we have any basis for revelry, for celebrating? Well, I would suggest that indeed we do, and I'm thinking of, my attention is drawn to 1
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Timothy 1 in verse 15, which doesn't seem like it has anything to do whatsoever with the
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Christmas story, but indeed it does, because Paul writes there, he says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world.
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Christ Jesus came into the world. We have reasons for celebrating because we can revel in a person.
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We're not just revelry, you know, our revelry isn't just about, you know, colors and lights and snow and romance and all the other kinds of things that make themes, are themes and songs at this time of year.
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Our revelry is centered in a person. Christ Jesus came into this world.
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I think also verse 16, Paul writes, however, for this reason I obtained mercy that in me first Christ Jesus might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life.
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There is a person that our attention is focused on. I suppose there's all kinds of revelry that is centered on the person of Santa Claus.
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There's revelry that centers on the idea of peace and goodwill.
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There's revelry that centers on the idea of gift giving, the spirit of gift giving.
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But if that's not all tied to the person who is the giver of the greatest gift, if that's not focused on God who has given his indescribable gift, then it is shallow at best.
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No, our revelry is centered on a person. But more than that, our revelry is centering on grace.
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This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world.
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He came into the world. And he did not come into the world because he was sought.
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No one sought after him. You don't have in the archives of ancient history a whole host of writings, even on tablets, stone tablets, or papyrus, or any other kind of writing surface, hieroglyphics or anything of that nature whatsoever that says that the people are seeking
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Messiah to come. No, he didn't come because we sought him.
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He came because it was revealed that he would come. He came not because we wanted him, in fact, when he did come, most didn't want him.
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He didn't come because we deserved him. In fact, we certainly didn't.
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He came because we needed him. We needed him, supremely needed him.
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We all need him. Everyone on this planet needs him. He came because we needed him. And this,
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I would suggest, is grace. It is grace that God sent him.
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Listen to some of these other passages of scripture, if I can find them in my notes here, where Christ Jesus was sent by the
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Father. John 3, verse 17 says, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but God sent his son into the world that the world through him might be saved.
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John 3, verse 34 says, for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God.
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John 6, 29, Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent.
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John 8, 42, Jesus said to the Jews, if God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have
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I come myself, but he sent me. John 17, verse three, and this is life eternal, that they may know you, the only true
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God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Galatians, the passage we looked at this morning, chapter four, verses three through five, says, even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world, but when the fullness of the time was come,
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God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
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In 1 John, chapter four, verses nine and 10, in this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent forth his only begotten son into the world, that we might live through him.
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And this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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Christ came because God sent him. God the Father sent
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God the Son to a needy, needy people. He came because we needed him.
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This is grace. We revel in grace at this season of the year.
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I'm reminded of the song, gospel song, I Am Not Worthy. Familiar with that one?
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It goes like this. I am not worthy the least of his favor, but Jesus left heaven for me.
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The word became flesh and he died as my savior, forsaken on dark
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Calvary. I am not worthy, this old tongue repeats it. I am not worthy, this heart gladly beats it.
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Jesus left heaven to die in my place. What mercy, what love, what grace.
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We revel in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we revel in the grace of that savior, the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And then back in 1 Timothy 1 verse 15, you see that we have another reason to revel, and that is we revel in the purpose of his coming.
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Paul writes, it is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, to save sinners.
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Do you realize what that means? That means he came into this world to save you, to save me, for we are all in that boat as sinners.
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And what cause to celebrate, what cause to rejoice, what reason to revel.
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I think of all the reasons people give for revelry this time of year, and boy, do they revel.
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Don't they celebrate? Don't they have a great old time? But what about you and me?
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Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And if you have put your faith and trust in this savior, he has saved you.
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My goodness, you and I, we have more cause for rejoicing than all that the world might be able to concoct for their celebrations.
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Let's revel this Christmas in the person of Jesus Christ, in his amazing grace displayed in coming into this world for the purpose of saving sinners like you and me.
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Let's close tonight with the hymn everyone loves this season of the year, the hymn
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Silent Night. Hymn number 219.
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Let's stand together as we sing, shall we? Let's have the instruments drop out on the third and then join us on the chorus.
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On the third, acapella. Celebrating and all are rejoicing as much as we do, as much as we're able to do, even if we cannot do it with a whole bunch of other people.
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We don't have a bunch of family around us. We don't have a bunch of friends joining in in a party together.
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We can revel in the person and the work and the grace of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. Let's close in prayer, shall we? Amen. And so Father, tonight we are so grateful that you sent your son into this world to be our savior.
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We thank you for your amazing grace. We thank you for the Lord Jesus and his amazing humility, his condescension, his satisfaction for our sins and his own body on the tree.
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Oh Lord, what wonder, what grace. In this we revel, in this we give thanks and for this we praise you.
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In the name of Jesus, our savior, amen. You are dismissed, may God bless you and give you a great and joyous Christmas.