Christmas Eve 2019

Welcome to Christ the Redeemer, Christmas Eve.

We're excited you're here with us.

Merry Christmas, whether you're one of our regular folks, uh, or perhaps you're here because you wanted to come to church on Christmas Eve and we love that.

We love that you're here.

Maybe you're here through family and you got here and you're happy about that, and we love that you're here.

Maybe you're here because you were told you had to come to a Christmas Eve service with your family and you're not happy about it, but we're happy you're here, and we're glad you're here.

For the very least, perhaps hopefully it's a it's an hour of rest in a Christmas season that Christmas seasons in general can feel sort of hectic.

So uh welcome, glad you're here.

So, two weeks ago, a incredible great event happened.

Something happened in history.

This happened, and I actually read about it online on CBS Sports Online.

So this happened in history.

It was documented for us to know about, and so I actually pulled this quote directly from CBS Sports Online.

Here's the beginning of the quote quotation marks beginning number 18 Marietta High School won its first state title in 52 years, beating number nine Lounge 179 to capture the 7A state championship.

Amen.

It didn't say amen in the article, but but amen.

And by the way, a friend of mine said that's the only time we've heard our church applaud is for football, not for Jesus or anything, but you know, it's okay.

Hey, me too, me too, I'm with you.

So, news, that was news, right?

I read you news, I read you something that happened.

It was already accomplished, and probably, I don't know if there's a football player in here, but probably you didn't accomplish it.

Probably it was accomplished by somebody else.

The team accomplished it, and this was good news, and news is something that is accomplished outside of us.

And it is incredible because it's good news.

Nothing about advice, nothing that I read you about that news was advice.

It was just news.

Good news.

And so when we come to Luke 2, I'll reread a few of the things that Courtney read.

Luke 2, verses 8 through 11, give us the context here, and we're gonna look at verses 10 and 11.

Luke 2:8–11

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.

And the angel said, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

So I was at that state championship game.

I went with my oldest daughter and some of her friends, and then some of their parents, and we had a group, and we went down there, and we got seats on about the 50-yard line, about 20 rows up, and as soon as I got into my seat, I noticed the the gentleman in front of me, he was the size of a dump truck.

I mean, this guy was huge, I mean, not overweight, huge, just he was he was six men, he was huge, and I'm I'm not big.

So he was taking up about two seats.

I take up about a third of a seat, and he was just a massive, massive man, and it didn't take long to figure out that he had a son that played football on the team.

And so every time that this, and the son's good, by the way.

I mean, this this kid is an incredible football player.

He was playing tight end, and then they'd send him out to wide receiver.

He was playing defensive end at one point, and then one point, he was playing safety, the same, the same kid playing defensive end is playing safety.

I mean, he's unbelievable.

Every time he makes a great play, which is about every other play, dad would be like, high five circle, boom, high five, that's me, I'm behind him, high five up to me, high five, high five.

My hand's still hurting in the back because he's so big.

And I'm in the high five circle with the dad.

Every great play.

We're high fiving, we're buddies, and this kid is performing.

He's great play, great play, acrobatic catch, acrobatic catch.

And every time that he got sent out to wide receiver from tight end, your tight end's closer into the line, but every once in a while he'd run out to wide receiver, and then the dad would see the defensive formation, and the dad would go, Oh no, oh no, one-on-one, one on one, and he'd start a little dance.

One on one, one on one, as he'd see it, and they'd just throw it up and he'd make a catch or whatever.

And just when you think, this kid is like Jesus playing football, he's so perfect.

I mean, you're just starting to think this.

There's just, there's just this one play, just one, like maybe all season, I don't know, but definitely that game, and he was open, he was in the end zone, and uh nobody's around him.

The ball's a little low, but it's not but he just took his eye off of it and he dropped it.

You know, the the whole crowd's oh, you know, the crowd like moans, oh, you know.

But I was watching the dad, his dad was right in front of me, and I just watched him, and and the dad, not a word of disappointment came out of his mouth.

Not a word.

I mean, not a hesitation at all game.

He was just delighting in his son.

I mean, even when he had the drop, he's just delighting in his son.

What an image to behold for us.

That we have a heavenly father that does not exist and demand upon us, but exists that delights in us and delights in our hearts.

This is what Christmas is.

This is what Christmas shows us that God desires to delight in you, have a loving relationship with you.

This is why Jesus comes to earth to take on the penalty of our sin, so we're in loving relationship with God.

And it's secure.

It's good news.

That's why it's good news because it's secure, it's already been won.

By God Himself, his grace to us.

Verses 10 and 11.

Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior.

It's not just a teacher, a rabbi, but a savior, somebody who saves us.

Who is Christ the Lord.

A couple points to kind of guide us.

Point number one is this good advice without the good news is a bad way to live.

The beginning of the Christian faith, this is the beginning here of Christian faith, was such good news they called it gospel, which means good news.

That's how they described it.

That's what they called it.

They just called it good news.

Not good advice, they called it good news.

And you've heard good news.

I read good news.

Marietta won, good news.

We clapped, didn't we?

We clapped.

What great news.

Maybe you've heard some good news this year.

Maybe you got a job, your child got a job, you, you know, the boy likes you, the girl likes you, you passed the class, your kid passed the class, you got the bonus, your company sold, right?

And you heard the news when it came, you heard the news, and just by the nature of good news, great joy rises up.

So we have to ask, and especially if you don't go to church a lot, you already know this question.

If the Christian faith is such good news that produces great joy, then how come you were in that church?

Or you read that book, or you knew that Christian?

It didn't feel like good news.

It didn't feel like great joy.

It just felt like judgment and condemnation and advice and advice and advice and advice and advice.

Maybe it just felt like more rules and more rules, or maybe it just felt like who you should be against.

Rather than good news for all people, peace for all mankind, great joy for your heart.

And this is where this principle, this truth, can change our lives.

Good advice without the good news is a bad way to live.

Let me show it to you in Philippians chapter 2, because we see this principle, this truth working itself out in how the New Testament is actually written.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

So we're gonna work our way to this passage in Philippians 2, not to necessarily look at like what's in the passage, we'll see that, but how structurally Paul writes to us, how the apostle Paul writes to us.

Philippians 2, verse 1.

Philippians 2:1

So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, I mean, this is all good news.

I mean, Paul's kind of rhetorically saying, like, hey, if you're in Christ, you have comfort from unconditional love.

God loves you, delights in you in this way.

You have participation in the spirit, if you have any affection and sympathy, so all that's good news, right?

You do have this.

This is given to you, this is gospel, this is news, this is proclaimed to you.

It's outside of you and given to you.

You don't have to merit it, you don't have to secure it.

It's yours in Jesus.

Verse 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Okay, good advice.

Right?

So we have good news.

Now we have good advice, and this is good advice.

I mean, do nothing out of selfish ambition.

Like consider others better than yourself.

This is really, really good advice.

Imagine how great your family would work, even tonight at Christmas dinner.

Imagine how great your family would work.

It just if these things happen.

Imagine how great work life would be, or life in your neighborhood.

Imagine that.

This is good advice, incredible advice.

We need that.

But if this is all we get, the reality of life is we don't live perfectly up to that, do we?

So we have to have good news.

And this is where we get this principle that works out.

Over time, advice without good news is felt as judgment, condemnation, and exhaustion.

Over time, advice without good news is felt as judgment, condemnation, and exhaustion.

Now, some of you know this really clearly because you have a parent.

You don't have to poke them right now, right?

I mean, this is maybe just great conversation for your Christmas dinner, but your parents have been giving you advice over and up, more advice and more advice and more advice and more advice and more advice.

And the idea of good news of secure love being poured over you, that has that's not so clear anymore.

And all you're hearing is advice.

And what happens over time?

You just start to feel judged.

That's what happens if a friend does this to you, a parent does this, if you do it to your child, I mean, that child feels judged, you feel condemned, you feel exhausted.

So what do you do?

If this is what's happening to you, right?

All your feelings advice, right?

What do you do?

Maybe you did it with church.

You start to have relational distance.

Because advice without grace always breeds relational distance.

You just go, ah, I don't, I can't be around that.

I don't know if I want to be around that, I don't know if I should be around that.

You know, you start.

And for many of us, even church became this.

It just became more and more advice without good news, which is what it was to start with.

Good news, a savior comes to you.

You're God saves you.

You don't save yourself.

Isn't that good news?

You have to try to forgive yourself or be good enough to get forgiveness or righteousness.

And these things are given to us in Christ Jesus.

We have a loving relationship with the Father.

The Father delights in you.

Not the better version of you, just like the you, the real you, the one you don't even let other people see.

That one.

So Paul gives us good news, he gives us good advice, and then even after the good advice, he swings back around because here's what it is is good advice always comes in the context of the empowerment by good news.

Verse 5 having this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

This is yours, and it's ours because of the gift of Christ.

Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped.

Here's what God did for us, but unempted himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being founded human form.

Merry Christmas.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

And there on the cross is where we know our sin is put upon Jesus on the cross, his righteousness is given to us, so we're forever God's beloved.

He delights in us by the work of Jesus, not our work.

That's such good news.

And the good news that we say every single week in our church is we're more broken than we originally thought.

We're more sinful than we originally thought, but we're more loved by God than we could dare to dream.

What good news that a heavenly father delights in us.

If we jump back to our verse there in Luke 2, 10.

Fear not, fear not.

For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Point number two is this, our second point, last point.

We can move from postures of fear to a posture of behold.

Here's what I mean by that.

Last week I told my mentor, we were talking on the phone, and he said, Hey, what are you preaching on for Christmas Eve?

And so I told him about this good advice and good news thing I was gonna do, and I was, you know, kind of impressed with myself about that.

I felt real good about it.

And then, you know, I told him about this fear part, this behold part, and this thing that's gonna go on.

And then he said, Okay, that sounds great, Russ.

You're really excited about that.

He said, But let me ask you a question.

What fears might you be freed from as you behold Jesus in your heart?

Oh, okay.

I just want to kind of like talk about, you know, show you the structure in the scripture and do all that, but what fears?

What fears might I be freed from?

As I move from postures of fear to a posture of behold this good news.

Well, I had to list to him.

My fears of failure.

Fear of not being important enough.

Now I don't know what enough is.

I'll never know it.

I'm chasing that, unfortunately.

Because I have a fear of not being important enough or not having provision for my family enough.

And your fears are probably different.

I mean, some of you understand those, but some of you just fear of control, and that's why tonight when all the family over and it's chaos, you're gonna start wiping down the counters, right?

Like you're gonna be wearing those counters out over because you can control that.

Can't control that.

I'll control the countertops, right?

You know what I'm talking about.

You do it.

I start to sweep.

I'll just start sweeping up stuff.

You know, that makes me feel in control and important.

You know, I mean it does everything.

Maybe a fear of I won't be loved, I won't be wanted, I won't belong, I won't be safe.

Maybe a fear that, you know what, the family won't leave after Christmas dinner.

They're just gonna keep saying, Cousin Eddie doesn't leave, right?

I mean, that's a fear.

But the message from God, the message from God to our hearts is not more and more and more demand that creates fear.

It's good news.

It's good news.

This really is good news for you.

That the Heavenly Father delights in you.

Your sin and shame that's been taken care of by God's grace and Jesus.

And so when He looks at you, He's not disappointed, He is delighted.

He is delighted in you.

For many of us at Redeemer, if you've been with us this fall, this word behold is just kept popping up.

We talked about it in 1 John and this past Sunday.

We talked about behold again.

We've been talking about different illustrations in different ways.

Behold means to attend to what is being said.

Right?

It's like the preacher going, listen, listen, listen, listen.

Right?

And then the preacher makes this point.

Listen, listen, listen, listen.

It's behold.

So it means there's something so good and amazing it's worth your attention and your gaze and your heart.

Someday I just told you about the chocolate dessert that I'm gonna eat tonight.

I'm already thinking about it, I'm gonna behold it.

You can also think about it this way.

Maybe when you were little, you went skiing, and your your family took you skiing, and maybe you even got a plane.

You got on a plane to do this, and so you flew, and you flew into Denver, and then you got your car, and you're little, the parents are driving you, sister, brother, whatever, and you get into the mountains, and by the time you're up into the mountains, it's gotten dark, and you pull into Vale, Colorado, and you get into your condo, and you're there, you go to sleep, you wake up in the morning, your dad comes in, wakes you up in the morning, and he goes, he takes you over to the door that opens to the balcony, and he opens the door, he swings it open, and he says, Behold Vale Mountain.

Look how beautiful it is.

But if for me, maybe for me, the door swung open.

Behold, Obergatlinburg! Here it is.

There were two dumpsters, a parking lot, a little hill.

My mind was blown.

Either way, it's child, child, look at this.

Look at this.

This is so good.

This is so good.

This is so good for you.

It's good, and it's good news.

It always starts with good news.

That the heavenly father delights in you.

That is the context for any good advice we see in Scripture.

That is the promise we hold that God has already promised to us.

You have a heavenly Father that delights in you.

We know this to be true in the history by his birth, his life, his death, and his resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you that you who delight in us, you don't you're not disappointed in us, and you don't just demand and demand and demand, but that you delight in us and you delight in our hearts, even though we're imperfect and sinful.

God, thank you that your love is not conditioned upon us.

May we behold this even more.

May you take us captive.

May our hearts and our lives honor you.

We pray this as we celebrate the birth of your son.

You're very self incarnated into this world.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.