Luke's Second Story

Father, we ask that you gently but deeply pour out the Holy Spirit upon us and bring the story of Christmas deeply to our heart, to the command center of our lives, where we might know you, Father, and we might be more and more and more shaped by the gospel.

And all these things we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, my Christmas Eve sermons are always a bit weird.

I know there's lots of little ones. I know they're very, very wiggly.

And so we try to intersperse the sermon with some videos.

Andrew, do you have the first video sort of lined up?

Okay.

Okay.

Oh, Christmas tree.

How lovely are we herening.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Oh, Christmas tree.

In forest madness springing.

Then in the name of Christmas joy,

We speak your life to kill this joy.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Now meet our answers swinging.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Oh, Christmas tree.

With fire and rose now fairly.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Oh, Christmas tree.

And from your home it's fairly.

Set that a song with new friends.

For long, for long, as you just best.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Rest from your native dwelling.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Oh, Christmas tree.

With every hour decaying.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Silver and altar reigning.

With gentle trays to hide the crown.

We blew the needles from the ground.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Oh, Christmas tree.

The rotten branch is praying.

Humanity.

Oh, Christmas tree.

Humanity.

Humanity.

Humanity.

Humanity.

Humanity.

A flesh and bone plantation.

Humanity.

A feather tree.

No golden decorations.

To cut and tease.

And trick his pride.

Surround with family through the night.

Humanity.

Humanity.

Humanity.

Oh, fall and tree.

Distant for exploration.

Notivity.

Notivity.

The King of Heaven.

Loving ability.

The promise lead.

Into the earth now soren.

And bringing forth our own clay

The Son of God on Christmas Day

Nativity, their fruitful tree

Now in our midst has fallen

Born to wait as popular

Born to give us every love

In heaven's name, rejoice and sing

My true love, peace for me

A couple of weeks ago

I was having a conversation with somebody in a coffee shop

And it was just after that Christian missionary

You know the young guy who went on an island

Where they didn't like people from outside

It was a complete unreached people group

And he got killed

Remember he got killed?

His body was on the shore I think

For a little while before they were able to rescue it

And this fellow, this friend of mine

Whom I've talked to quite a few times

You know, gay, sort of vaguely Jewish

And very, very secular

He found himself, he was telling me

He found himself completely and utterly gripped

By the story of this missionary

This young guy

Both fascinated that this young guy

Would have such a desire to go and even risk his life

And at the same time just sort of bothered

That something like that would go on in the Christian faith

That there's something about that

You know, telling other people about it

Was so important

Anyway, we had this conversation

It was one of those odd moments

He actually worked in that particular place

And we had five or six or seven minutes

Where nobody came to the lineup

We had a bit of a conversation

And he got to air some of his mis...

You know, he said certain things

He thought about Christians

And he trusted that I wouldn't be offended

And one of the things I said to him

Is that Christians

Nobody who reads the Bible

Should come to the conclusion

That the Bible believes the world

Is divided between good people and bad people

I said, the Bible doesn't teach that

Christians aren't supposed to believe that

It's just not what Christians believe

I said, Christians believe

That the line between good and evil

Goes right down every individual

That every human being

We can do good things

But everything about us is touched

By evil

And I said, so the gospel

I said to him

Isn't about how to make good

Bad people good

The Bible

The gospel

Is about how to make dead people alive

Jesus didn't come

To make bad people good

Jesus came

To make dead people alive

And

The wonderful thing about that funny

Silly video

Is that it really

Tries to bring home to us

The fact that

We are separated from God

And

And we're on

On the way to dying

I know it came to

Come here to Christmas Eve

And I tell you really

Really fantastic stuff

You're all one closer to death

Than you were the day before

And it bothers lots of us

To hear that

But the fact of the matter is

It's just unbelievably true

And

And so

It's that type of context

Where

And we have to hear

The

The stories of Christmas

So I

I read from Luke

If you have your Bibles

It's actually going to be up there

On the screen

I'll just sort of

Refresh your mind

About the first part of it

Andrew

If you could just skip to

On the screen

To verse

Verse 8

So

Luke

Who by the way

Was born a pagan

Lived a pagan

As a pagan

For many many years

He would have

Worshipped the gods of Rome

And maybe the gods of Greece

Just the same gods

With different names

We never hear about

How it happens

But we know that

As an adult

As a well educated man

He was a doctor

He became a Christian

After having been a pagan

For decades

And

He ends up

Writing

A biography of Jesus

Because he was

A well educated man

And as a doctor

He was concerned about facts

And understanding things

And so he interviewed

A whole pile of eyewitnesses

He read

Official documents

And he tells us

A true story of Jesus

Not a story

Inspired by true events

Or based on true events

But a true story of Jesus

And we have here

This just very very simple

Description of how Jesus

Got born

We'll just sort of read that

And just to bring it

Right to our minds

It goes

Verse 1

In those days

A decree went out

From Caesar Augustus

That all the world

Should be registered

This was the first registration

When Quirinius

Was governor of Syria

And all went to be registered

Each to his own town

And Joseph also

Went up from Galilee

From the town of

Nazareth

To 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

Who was with child

And just sort of

Pause there

One of the things

Which is so wonderful

About this story

Is you know

A lot of times

When I talk to people

About what they believe

Spiritually

They'll tell me

Abstractions

They'll tell me

Principles

They'll tell me

Different practices

That they follow

They tell me

Some of the ideas

That they hold

As being very very precious

And on one hand

Of course

We Christians

Can understand that

I mean we understand

Certain practices

And we have certain ideas

But the thing

Which is so wonderful

About the Christian faith

Is that it's

It's rooted in history

It's

Luke claims to be

Telling us

A true story

About something

That happens

To a man named

Jesus

And in the story

Of his birth

One of the things

Which is so neat

About this

Is that it's

Just like real life

You know

Just like in real life

You know

The politicians

Trump makes a decision

And he can make a decision

And before you know it

Fleets are in motion

And armies are in motion

And the whole Twitter sphere

Is completely and utterly enraged

And there's demonstrations

On the street

Or it can be the same

For Putin

It can be the same

For Trudeau

He can make a decision

About who gets to have

Summer jobs

And the next thing you know

The whole nation

Has to move and bend

And here we have

Caesar Augustus

He makes a decision

That he has to have

A better understanding

Of who's in his empire

So he can tax them better

And so he can raise up

Troops better

And he makes this decision

And before you know it

Even something

Joseph and Mary

Whom he's never heard of

And he's never heard of Jesus

And he's probably never heard

Of Jewish people

And he's never read the Bible

And he just makes this decision

Of his own free will

And people are moving

All over the empire

And in the process of it

He causes events

To just transpire

So that Jesus fulfills

In his birth

A whole pile of prophecies

Written anywhere from

400 to a thousand years earlier

And that's really cool

And so Joseph and Mary

Find themselves in Bethlehem

And in verse 7

And she gave birth

To her firstborn son

And wrapped him

In swaddling cloths

And laid him in a manger

Because there was no place

For them in the inn

And you know

I talked about this

A little bit yesterday

Probably what's going on

Here partially

It doesn't have to be an inn

It could just be a room

Somewhere

And the city was

Piled with people

And Joseph probably

Had some relatives there

But he was also

Facing social ostracism

Because he didn't divorce

Or put Mary aside

When she had a baby

Because she was pregnant

Out of wedlock

And both of them

Are living with that stigma

And that social ostracism

So the baby

And it's very interesting

Because this story

Is going to tell us

Remarkable things

About who Jesus is

But it tells us

That Jesus is born

Outside

Not inside any room

Or shelter

But outside

And after his birth

They put him in a feeding trough

Where animals would be fed

Now one of the things

Which is so cool

About the Christian faith

So neat about it

Is that

We believe

That God keeps doing things

And acting

In our world

And when God acts

He doesn't just sort of act

I mean sometimes

He acts just in our lives

Like that

But in the Bible

What it is

Is that God acts

And then he helps us

To understand what he's done

He tells us

This is what I've done

And this is what it means

And often he tells us

And this is how

You're supposed to respond

To respond correctly

And so Luke

Here gives us

A bit of an explanation

About the birth

And it comes in the next few verses

Look at verse 8

And in the same region

There were shepherds

Out in the field

Keeping watch over their flock

By night

And an angel of the Lord

Appeared to them

And the glory of the Lord

Shone around them

And they were filled

With great fear

Now just pause here

For a second

One of the things

You need to understand

About these shepherds

Is that there's nothing

Holy about them

Now

Maybe you could ask

Major

The Reverend Major Turner

Or a couple of other things

What's it like

When there's a whole pile

Of guys out in the bush

And there's no women around

I'm sure they're probably

Spending all their time

Praying

Reading Shakespeare

Some knitting

Maybe

So the thing about it

Is you have to get rid

Of all of this

Pious imagery

That we have

About the Bible

What Jesus is

What the Bible is saying here

Is there's a bunch of guys

Out in the bush

Without any women around

And they were acting

Like guys in the bush

With no women around

That's what they were doing

And you can talk

To a couple of guys

About what that might have been

At a bare minimum

One of the ways

That working class guys

When they're in the bush

Away from the woman

One of the bare minimum

Things they would do

Is if they talked to each other

They'd be insulting each other

All the time

Because that's how

You communicate affection

If you're a guy

You insult the other person

And there was probably

Anyway

We won't go any further with that

But this is a before picture

This isn't a whole pile

Of people who were picked

Because they were especially holy

And that's probably part of the reason

Why they're afraid

An angel shows up

Who knows what they were doing

And they are completely

And utterly terrified by it

And in verse 10

And the angel said to them

Fear not

For behold

I bring you good news

Of great joy

That will be for all the people

For unto you is born this day

In the city of David

A savior

Who is Christ the Lord

And this will be a sign for you

You will find a baby

Wrapped in swaddling cloths

And lying in a manger

Now just sort of pause there

I don't know if you noticed

The huge disconnect

The angel said

Listen

First of all

It's an angel who shows up

To talk to these shepherds

The original language

Is he stands right

He gets right in their face

He stands right in front of them

So the shepherds are all here

The angel isn't sort of like

Way back a kilometer

Yelling at them

The angel gets right in their face

And the angel says

I bring you good news

Of great joy

And he says

In the city

Is born a savior

And he is the Lord

And he is Christ

It means that all of the Old Testament prophecies

About however they worked

About God's deliver

It's all been fulfilled

That baby is being born

Just down the hill

And then you'd expect to say

And this is going to be the sign

And the sign might be

That if you go down there

There's a thousand angels around him

If you go down

The whole village has come around

And they're all praying

And they're singing psalms

Or maybe there's a whole pile

Of army people

Or there's some great majestic thing

And that's what you expect him to say

But the story takes a very, very funny turn

This person who is the Savior

And the Christ

And the Lord

He's lying in a manger

He's lying in a feeding trough

And so then in verse 13

It says

And suddenly there was

With the angel

A multitude of the heavenly host

Praising God

And by the way

Whenever you see that word

Heavenly host

You know what it means

It means an angel army

It's one of those things

That in a lot of modern liturgies

They get rid of any reference

To a host

Because we have to all be pacifists nowadays

And you can't have any reference

To the military

But what is there

It's an angel army

And the angel army

Is singing

And what are they saying?

Glory to God in the highest

And on earth peace

Among those with whom he is pleased

When the angels went away

From them into heaven

The shepherds said to one another

Let us go over to Bethlehem

And see this thing

That has happened

Which the Lord has made known to us

And they went with haste

And found Mary and Joseph

And the babe line in a manger

And when they saw it

They made known the saying

That had been told them

Concerning this child

And all who heard it

Wondered at what the shepherds told them

So they

Here's one of the things

Which is so cool about this

You know

My

When you have a remarkable event

You remember things

Some of you know

I have nine kids

So

I don't know

There's

Thousands of times

You pushed a kid

In a stroller

Like I had thousands of times

Where I did that

But there's one particular time

I was pushing with my wife

Some of our kids in the stroller

And I always remember

That particular event

Why do I remember that particular event?

Because it happened

Remember

I don't know how many years ago

Was it when all of the eastern seaboard

Of Canada and the United States

Lost their power?

I can't remember how long ago that was

But then everybody lost their power

You might remember that

And so we didn't have any power

And it was really, really, really dark

In the city

It was very unusual

Because there's no electricity anywhere

And I remember

We decided we'd go out for a walk

It was like a July night or something

We went out for a walk

Pushing our little kids in the stroller

And I can't remember which one was in the stroller

But all of a sudden

He excitedly or she excitedly said

Look, the power's come back on

And it was because a car was coming around the corner

And my child thought

That because the car had lights on

It meant the power was coming back on

And I mean, that's a nothing story

But I always remember that

I always remember that

Because of the context of us having no power

And the thing which is so neat about this story

Is that in a sense

Caesar Augustus organized

And orchestrated a story

So that 40 years later

30 years later

When people are looking out at eyewitnesses

They'd say

Do you remember back

When Caesar Augustus

Made us all go back to Bethlehem

And was there anything weird

That happened that night

And people would all go

Oh yeah

I could hardly get any sleep that night

Because a woman who was outside

Was giving birth to a baby

And she kept screaming

Because babies, when they get born

It's not usually quiet

Like without any drugs

It's like there's lots of screaming

And so probably for decades afterwards

You know, people might not remember

All sorts of other births

But that birth

They would remember

And because they would remember that birth

And because they hadn't been able

To have any sleep

There were probably lots of people

Coming down to see

What was going on with the woman

And they would have seen the shepherds

And they would have heard

All the things that the shepherds had to say

And it's one of the things

Which is remarkable about this story

That makes it so believable

That when Luke was going to look

For eyewitnesses to find out

What happened

He'd have all sorts of people

Who could remember

Because of that unique set

Of circumstances

Before we go any further

Next video

So, just to sort of bring this to

Start to bring it to a bit of a conclusion

What we hear in the Christmas story

What Christmas Christmas is all about

In secular Christmas

Not that there's anything wrong

With secular Christmas

It's not that there's anything wrong

With Canadian Christmas

But Christian Christmas

Is something different

It emerges out of remembering

And reconnecting

And rejoicing

In these foundational stories

About the birth of Jesus

At the heart of this

Is, if you could put up

The first point, Andrew

At the heart of this

Is Luke's story

Is what the angels say

The baby is

It's what the angels tell the shepherds

Who the baby is

And the angels say

That when we hear God

We hear good news

We hear good news from God

That's what the angels say

And the good news from God

Is that our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ

Is born

It's news that comes from God

It's news about who Jesus is

And it's news that

All of the prophecies are fulfilled

That he is going to be the one

Who is going to save us

And it opens up this other thing

That ultimately only God can save us

And so when it says

That he is Lord

It has this double meaning

It means that he is to be

Lord of our lives

But it also points to the fact

That it's not just a human being

Who has been born

But that it is God

The Son of God himself

Who has been born

Who has come to save us

If we could see the next video

Which is silence and fury

That will help bring this home

If you could put up the next point

One of the things

Which is so remarkable

About this story

Is not just that

God himself comes

And is born in a stable

Not just that he is the one

Who is going to save us

Not just that he is the one

Who is Lord

Not just that he is the one

Who is keeping

God is showing

That God has kept

All of his promises

To send a Savior

And deliver

But hidden in this story

And a part that often

Gives us lots of trouble

Is this other idea

That everything about

What God is doing

In the person of Jesus

Is all grace

We hear good news from God

Our faith in him

Is all grace

From beginning to end

And every moment in between

It's all grace

And it comes in this odd part

Of the angel song

Which often troubles people

But it shouldn't trouble you

Because what it's saying

Is exactly what I have

Up there

It says in the song

Of the angels

Glory to God in the highest

And on earth peace

Among those with whom

He is pleased

And the message is

Is that because of

The birth of this baby

There is going to be

A means that God

Has provided

Whereby human beings

Can once again

Be at peace with God

We've been at enmity

With God

We have been enemies

Of God

God himself

Is doing something

To make peace

With himself

And it says

On those whom

He has favor

And whom he has blessing

And the wonderful thing

Is this news

All comes to shepherds

They're once again

A group of guys

Out in the bush

Without the women

Not doing holy things

Probably

And the message

Comes to them

And this is the wonderful thing

It's out of God's grace

That you hear about Jesus

It's out of God's grace

That you turn your heart to him

When you turn your heart to him

What he gives you is grace

Which is unmerited kindness

And what it is

And so at every point in time

It's not as if you have to

Live a good life

And finally God

Will show you grace

It's not as if you have to

Be successful

It's not as if you have to

Be a winner

It's not as if you have to

Be beautiful

It's not as if you have to

Be just anything like that

You can be broken

You can be anything

And that God

Comes to you

With unmerited kindness

That you might turn to him

And when you turn to him

You only receive

Unmerited kindness

And when you walk with Jesus

All you ever receive from him

Is unmerited kindness

And mercy

And that's what the angels

Are saying

God is providing

The means by which

We can be at peace

With him

And everything about this

Is grace

Unmerited favor

Unmerited favor

You don't have to become

Purified

Before you know something

And before you can

Have peace with God

It begins with having

Peace with God

And that begins

To have a way

By which you can start

To see the world

Different

And start to live

A different type of life

If you could put up

The next point Andrew

That would be very

Very great

You see

What we need to do

Is to pray

That the Lord

Will grow in us

A new sense

Of identity and self

As I receive

As you receive

As we receive

And ponder

Your good news

God's good news

You see

Because what happens

Is the way

That all religions

Sean did a wonderful sermon

I don't know how many years ago

How many months ago it was

Where he talks about

How every different system

Of thought

Or religion

Or ideology

It's all about a matter

Of you have to

Purify yourself

In some way

And after you've

Purified yourself

In some way

Then maybe you start

To get some type

Of illumination

And knowledge

And after you've

Been purified

And you have

Some illumination

And knowledge

Then you can finally

Have union with God

And the good news

Of the gospel

Is that it's

The complete

Opposite process

That what happens

Is completely

And utterly

Out of grace

You put your faith

And trust in Jesus

And you have peace

With God

And union with God

And as that starts

To grip your identity

And your self

Understanding of who you are

It starts to illuminate you

You have the security

To start to look within you

And you see the things

Within you

That have to be dealt with

And have to be changed

And it gives illumination

About how generosity

Has to have a bigger part

Of your life

Or love

Or forgiveness

And as this story

Grips you

It starts to give you

A way of seeing yourself

And identifying yourself

And understanding who you are

That creates the energy

To start to change

How you live

That's the gospel

So folks

We're going to have

One more video

To wrap this up

If you could just

Put up the final point

Though before we have

The video

Here's how

Here's

You see

The Christmas stories

Are to start

To free us

And form us

Into how we celebrate

Christmas

And this is the entire

Old Testament pattern

About how you do that

That we celebrate

By remembering with others

That's what we're doing tonight

We remember who Jesus is

And what he did for us

With others

We rejoice with others

We recommit to Jesus

With others

Well and then

Most of us

Will do this either tonight

Or tomorrow

We feast

Hopefully with others

Make sure you invite others along

And that's what we do

We come together

To remember Jesus

And as we remember Jesus

We get more and more

Gripped by it

And it starts to form us

This wonderful video

Which we'll have

In closing

It's just a wonderful

Telling of the Christmas story

And it's a wonderful

Testimony of a person

Who just realized

That even though

She was a Christian

She was finding her identity

And self

Sense of worth

In all the wrong places

And she needed to be

Once again

Just gripped by the gospel

This will be

We'll see you with this

And then we'll close in prayer

I know

It's no one's fault

It's no one's fault

That someone is born

With a disability

But then you still feel like

But why did this happen to us?

Welcome to all of you

Please take a seat

We want to now share

A nativity treat

This story of Christmas

We tell it in rhyme

Some actors have lines

While some of us mime

I was overwhelmed

With grief

At the loss

I thought

A beautiful baby

Has got down syndrome

And it's such a disaster

Meanwhile

Great Caesar

Augustus

In rhyme

Made a decree

Return to your home

For Joseph's ruling

Met Wesleyan town

So they rode on their donkey

All the way down

God didn't give me

A straightforward answer

Of why this happened

It just took time

For me to realise

God's answer was

It wasn't so much

What was wrong with Lever

As much as there was

Something wrong

With the way I was thinking

Mary was speechless

She didn't know

How these things

Could have happened

But still she bowed

I think of Mary

Of all she goes through

It's not her plan

It's God's plan

She just goes with it

She's humble

She's calm

She's reassured

By the fact

That everything's

Going to be okay

For he has remembered me

His lonely servant

From now on

All the people

Will call me happy

He has brought down

My king from the throne

And lift up the lonely

What we learnt

Was that God was with us

God suffered with us

And he gave us

The most beautiful child

And there was no reason

For me to grieve

Or compare her

Or you know

Feel sorry for her

In my old view

Before she taught me

I thought she would lack

She's not lacking

So gathered around

That we may be void

All people are welcome

To know heaven's joy

From angels to donkeys

From shepherds to kings

The little Lord Jesus

God's miracle he brings

He came to our darkness

From heaven above

He stooped to the prim

And the cross out of love

He shed in our weakness

And weakness and mess

And still he embraced us

Nevertheless

If you're feeling rejected

Exclude you to stranger

Remember the one

Who came down to the manger

That a repente

About who came into

The Skywalker

Only now

The man

I wish

The Lord

And still there

Is none

That we

Send

God's

And still there

To rest

Our

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Amen.

Please stand and we'll just close this with a prayer.

Let's stand.

Father, thank you for the gift of Jesus.

Thank you that he comes down to share the mess and the complexity of our lives,

that he comes to bear the sin that we cannot deal with.

He comes to bear the shame that we cannot deal with.

He comes to deal with the accusations that we cannot deal with.

And we thank you, Father, that he deals with all of these things when he dies on the cross.

But we also thank you that, Father, his perfect life clothes us as well.

That when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, it's not just what he takes away, but what he gives us.

And we thank and praise you, Father, that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus,

he is with us every day.

And he is with us in our weakness.

And he's with us when we're anxious.

And so we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would grip us with this story of who Jesus is,

remembering that the cradle reveals what his lordship is like in our lives.

And grant us a deeper trust in him that he might form how we understand who we are and what our hope is.

And all these things we ask in the name of Jesus, your son and your savior.

Amen.