# Glory and Peace

The Christmas is amazing. I love I just love everything

about and I get caught up into it and I sometimes get too

excited and Christmas is over before we get to Christmas day,

which isn't so good. And then I have to have an

influx of energy from my family to get you back in the Christmas

spirit, but I think we're all in the Christmas spirit, we're

waiting for it to happen, which is what Advent is about, isn't

it? It's about waiting.

And we begin to see all the signs of Christmas happening

whether it's snow or whether it's the lights or whether it's

your Christmas cards or the presence beginning to build up,

they are all indicators. They are all little lights and

signs pointing to something bigger, as we begin to prepare

ourselves. It's funny that we feel like we

finish the year with Christmas. But really, for Christians, it

should be where we start the year.

We should start from the place of Christmas in heading to the

next year, with the knowledge and the experience of the good

news that Christ came to Earth, you and me.

I also before I forget I was teaching some students Samuel

ride to school on Wednesday and they said would you do we do

shout out to us and so before I wanted to do at the end so you

stay to the end and listen the whole thing but I'm just going

to get it done. So Samia Rider you are very

welcome. To join us in church.

And re as you asked me to name Check you.

So re as there you go. Big up for Riyadh.

Let me start by reading something.

In those days, Caesar, Augustus issued a decree that a census

should be taken of the entire Roman world.

And this was the first census that took place.

While quirinius was governor of Syria and everyone went to their

Hometown to register. Just give you a bit of History.

I think. Sometimes we forget that Jesus

happened in a moment in time, he was born in a moment in time.

So we all know who Julius Caesar is, yeah, Just after that Julius

Caesar gets bumped off, okay. And then his close friends, the

sort of ran the kind of the Roman armies, they all started

in fighting With each other, Mark Antony was kind of one of

the main characters of that. And and he teams up with

juiciest Seasons cousin or second cousin that Julius Caesar

adopts as his son. And and he renamed himself or

gustus and Mark, Antony loses a battle and he is so caught up in

himself that he takes his own life.

So this is all history, this is all happening.

And when Mark Antony takes in his own life, Augustus, as left

as the kind of sole leader, the main Rule and there's a little

bit of Civil War, but basically, he takes over.

And he deems himself. He calls himself Emperor and the

Roman Empire begins to start and and he says a few things about

himself. He says let me read it.

He says he brings Justice and peace to the known world, that's

what he announces. And when the Romans went into P

of places, the the people who live there would say that

Augustus was our savior and our Lord, that's what they were.

Silence sounds a bit familiar, doesn't it?

It gets more familiar. See they all guster's turns

around and says you know Julius Caesar My adoptive father, he

was actually divine. Which makes me?

The son of. Son of God.

And so there is a stage being set in our history books.

Of the Son of God who brings Justice and face but he's

counterfeit. Not the real thing and exactly

the same time to get your history at.

Exactly the same time that all gustus is doing this.

We have this story emerging exactly the same time.

So when you begin to think about our story and our Christmas and

what is happening, it happens is a pivotal moment in history.

It isn't just a made-up, fairy tale or something you find in

this book, Julius Caesar markandstacy, Augustus, Jesus is

in that space. He's just in Bethlehem being

born. Really funny when he cemented

his Empire, he does. Augustus does a census to find

out what he's really got. He saw made him the main act,

he's taken center stage and how big is this thing that I have?

So it is a census. Everyone take their boxes.

Christian know Jesus wasn't born but we've just had the sensors.

Haven't we? Yeah.

Do you know what the result was when they went through they do

it every 10 years, Christianity has been on this gradual decline

and then a huge jump in the last 10 years.

Only 46 percent of UK citizens would say they are Christian

now. So it's like and we feel quite

sad and aggrieved and we see some of that in our politics

Sin. And I education system.

We see that some papers are saying we are no longer a

Christian country. That's what's being said in some

papers and that's really sad news, it is news, but when you

dig into a little bit, what is really going on is nominal,

Christianity, kind of established.

You know. State-run church is, people

aren't going anymore. We're not getting married in

church anymore. We're not having funerals in

church anymore. Where those things.

Have gone down. So nominal Christianity is

absolutely on the decline, but at the same time, if you look

further into statistics, there is a huge increase in other

things. So, black majority churches are

skyrocketing in the UK Vineyard movement is church.

Planting like, you can't keep up HD be their church planting

exactly the same time. And so we see a decline in

nominal Christianity, but people who loved Jesus and live every

day. As if his opinion really matters

they're trying to follow his opinion, is on the up.

Amazing, 330 million people ticked the Box, saying we love

Jesus, and we live every day. As if sub pinion matters 330

million on our little island. It's incredible around the

build. If Augustus had done a census

and said how many are there of you two million would have

ticked the Box. Think about that.

And on the day when Augustus is this census.

Zero. Because he wasn't born yet.

Two thousand years. This thing is going to be his

God and to Earth. And just if you are someone that

tick the Box you know I'm a no religion I wonder how you feel

about Jesus there. That's what it's about is not

about attending. A building is not about going

somewhere. That's cold.

And your toes are cold. It is about.

Do you love Jesus and are you living every day?

As if opinion matters, Which you can choose and you can change

what box you tick. You haven't set your trajectory.

So as we sort of, Honda Christmas.

Do you think, where am I really on that?

Do I love Jesus, and do I live every day, as if it's opinion

matters, We should read on. So so Joseph. also went up from

the town of Nazareth, in Galilee, to Judea to Bethlehem

to the town of David, they get this because he belongs to the

house and the line of David He went there to register with Mary

who was pledged to be married to him and she was expecting a

child and while they were there, the time came for the baby to be

born at so nicely and politely put, isn't it?

The time came for the baby to be born.

Some of us know. It's not like that and she gave

birth to her firstborn. He was a son And she wrapped him

in cloths and she placed him in a Manger, which we all know in a

wooden feeding trough, because there was no room for them in

the Inn. And Jesus is Hometown where

Joseph grew up, where Joseph kick football with his friends,

where he sneaks around their houses after school, and, and

stole their food. That's where they were going

back to loads of relatives would have been there and he would

have got with Mary on maybe a donkey banging on the doors to

his relatives saying, can I come in?

We haven't got any room for you. We get told in the translation

that Went to an inn and some people are saying there, that

wasn't a very good translation, what it would have been would

have been people's houses, they would live on the second floor

and on the ground floor. There would have been a place

for their animals and then there would be a guest room because

Hospitality was so big in that culture.

And Joseph wasn't just a local, it wasn't a local lad that grew

up there and all his relatives were there.

He was of the line and the House of David.

You know the shepherd boy that became king.

Joseph descendant from them. He should have been let in

somewhere, should know, you really.

So something is going on that leads you to speculate what was

happening. What was going on there?

And there's loads of different views, but I wonder if him And

Mary and her pregnancy was just a little complicated maybe not

accepted by the culture and so people were like, we don't we

don't want much to do with this. We're just someone else will

deal with this. We don't want this, it was messy

like many of our Christmases. It messy.

Don't know. We who, who do we have round?

Who do we see? They're going to get around

sunsets. Going to get drunk and, and so

Jesus. when into a space where Christmas is messy, knows what

mess is like And Freya thank you, that you've helped us maybe

go against some of that messiness or step into the

messiness a bit rather than avoiding it.

So, it was messy for whatever reason.

He can't find anywhere, really to stay it's difficult and so,

Christmas is a bit like a magnifier on that, isn't it?

That everything is normal. Just is Multiplied.

So Joy is Multiplied. Happiness is Multiplied.

Conflict is Multiplied. Selfishness is Multiplied.

Whatever is saw that the core wherever is at the center of the

stage just gets bigger. And for Jesus, for Joseph and

Mary, what is multiplied? Is quite a lot of difficulty.

You could say, actually, maybe there was a little bit of Shame,

put on them, not the two of them had any shame, but maybe people

try to put shame on them, but which is really interesting.

It means that Jesus Laughing to our world.

Jesus stepped in, and his first moments were not being accepted.

We're being turned away. People being suspicious chain,

trying to be put on him. And so, when we think about Our

Lives when we think about, when we pray and we're struggling

with things, we pray to someone whose first moments are someone

who is pushed away and not accepted and people just not

wanting to step into the messiness of that.

And so when you pray, you pray to someone that goes I get it.

I understand I empathize. I am with you in this.

So don't ever think there is a prayer that you can pray because

he gets his first moments. In fact, his last moments were

exactly the same. He was crucified naked.

The game, not his Shame. Shame, put on him, he

understands And I think that God may not know what's going on in

our world is quite interesting. As well, Mark, use this word

last week, that God is omniscient, which is a great re

where we love using. But actually what it means is,

God has matchsticks in his eyes Doesn't it if he sees and knows.

All we can think he's outside of time, but it means he cannot

turn away. He cannot blink.

He cannot cut it out of his sight.

Why did Jesus come? Because God has matchsticks in

his eyes. And the children that he loves

that he adores that are so precious.

I can't I can't stand back anymore.

I must do something. I must step into this messiness

and show them another way. And so Jesus comes because God

has match sticks in his eyes. He comes to fix the messiness,

he comes to step into the messiness, he comes to be part

of our messiness. He sees all already and He's

fairly familiar with with shame, really, isn't he?

He understands it. And so we shouldn't go before

him being fearful about the things that going wrong.

In fact, The the real. The fact is that there is no

shame before. God, in fact, the real shame is

that we don't go before. God don't make sense.

That's the problem before God, there is no shame he's seen or

he knows it. The problem is we the tragedy

is, we don't go to God in our shame because he's already seen

it. He a fives.

And it's really interesting for us, you know, when we fall over,

when we make mistakes in our world worldview we get back up,

don't we? But as Christians when we make

mistakes, when we fall, we don't get back up.

We cover up that we keep a secret.

So we've got we match sticks in his eyes which is a little bit

old. Really because he desperate for

us to come before him. And to be real with who we are,

students School asked me last week.

They said, why do Christians always talk about sin and shame,

which I'm doing our comp help here and The reason is we're not

miserable. The reason is, we're not like

obsessed with it. The fact is, if you, you are

Mind, Body, Soul, all together. And if you break a leg, you go

and get it fixed, you fix your body and thank goodness.

Now, if you have a mental health, difficulty we now go and

talk about and we get tools to manage it.

A lot of my work is helping with that.

So we do with the mind, there's only one thing left, our soul,

our spirit, and we just going to go around sort of hobbling

around with something. When we use words like sins

described or do we get it fixed? This this thing we use sin.

It's it pollutes us. We're we have sickness poison in

our veins. When we do it.

It is. These are things we learned from

Our Fate, please sirs. It's it is powerful it once,

isn't enough? We become obsessed.

We get draw me. Come channel channel Vision on.

That thing is powerful. And the worst thing is it

creates a partition between us and God?

The god that we can close our eyes with.

Where is he? We, it's like we're trying to

shove them away. There's a barrier.

We begin to put in the way that that means that we can't know

the peace of God so much and so croats in creates a partition.

And the brainy brow goes further brainy Brown says that the idea

of sin is that I've done something wrong.

Shame is when I think there is something wrong with me.

Bob with mattresses eyes, cannot cope with that.

And so he comes to Earth to address shame.

And he comes in a way that empathizes and goes.

I get it, I get it. I know that.

Brainy Brown says this. She says that if you put shame

in a Petri dish and bombard it with empathy, it cannot survive.

What did Jesus do? He comes to our world?

And he takes Shane's and he lives it.

He bombards it with empathy for you and me.

And so, Take your shame, do something with it.

And Jesus, even shows as Paul writes about what Jesus does in.

Let me read it to you in Hebrews 12.

He says this, I can find it. So, just a bit back thing.

Therefore, since we are surrounded Side by such a great

cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us

and in easily, entangles us. And let us run with

perseverance, the race marked out for us.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. The author and the Perfecter of

our faith, who for the joy, set before him even me, that's why I

came with matchsticks, in his eyes, before the joy before him,

endured the cross get this scorning, its shame and sat down

at the right hand of the Throne of God in the SV, it says,

despising it shame too often people of Jesus are being held

down and held back and held captive, because we cover up

rather than get up, Our example, our model, he despised shame,

and he empathize with it, when he was born for our to hold of

his life. And as he died for us to stand

before him and say, I know you see me, here I am.

And so if you feel that sense, sometimes of Shame and get

before God, or get before your connect group, and just say,

because if you bombard it with empathy, it has no power.

It loses its power. So be brave and get the help.

We need. What someone I should move on.

Sigh. That's going to say something

else to you first. So tanned pepper knife and fish

and glory, and Thing honor. We're going to hear a different

announcement in minute. Tell me in a minute.

What you think is glory and something else.

Let me read you something more. So and there were shepherds

living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks

at night, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them.

And the glory of the Lord Shone around them, and they were

terrified. But the angel said to them, do I

can't do the voice. How do you do an angel voice?

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great

joy. That will be for all the people

today. Today, think Julius Caesar

Augustus at the same time. All gassed us today in the town

of David. A savior has been born to you

and he is Christ, the lord or gustus know Jesus.

Yes, yes. And this will be a sign to you.

You will find a baby wrapped in a cloth and lying in a Manger

free. Clear sign, Berto.

Anything else. Then suddenly a great company of

Heavens host, appears with the angel praising God and saying,

Interesting thing. It takes one, Angel to announce

his coming. It takes an army of Heaven to

respond to the announcement. So I thought I won't read it

with read this all together, we're joining the Army.

So on the count of three, three, two, one glory to God in the

highest and on Earth, peace to those in whom his favor rests

Imagine that, but the Heavenly house not being contained.

Not bear to hold themselves back.

In fact, just thinking this doesn't deserve, just one Angel.

This deserves all of us, which is going to rip apart heaven for

a second Peak through. And make sure people realize

what has just happened and then we'll go back in before we get

in trouble. Glory and peace.

There is this kind of symbiotic, relationship, salt and pepper,

fish and chips, knife and fork. Glory and peace.

When Glory goes up. What comes down?

He's the angels are announcing the status of the way things

work. When Glory goes up, peace comes

down. That's why Christmas has this

kind of Desire, hope promise of Peace because all the lights,

all the signs, all the snow brush eyes to give Glory

upwards. And when we do he's because to

come down so, What why wanted us to think about is as we as we

think about Christmas as we think about Glory, who is really

the center of our stage? What is the center piece for us?

Is it, is it glory to God? Are we closing our eyes?

And when we see snow or when we see mountains or when we hear

The King's Speech, are we just closed her eyes and just giving

Glory up to God. We are we making big of God?

That's what Glory means is to make bigger.

Of what, what are we making big off this Christmas?

are extravagant gifts, the fact that we're turning the heating

on what are we making Glory of and as you make Glory of him as

you big him up, He's understand. And so for struggling, With sin,

shame, finances relatives, whatever the thing is, were

struggling with the answer is not fix ourselves, but to give

him glory, allow glory to go up. So his peace and down, That is

the order of things, that is what the angels are announcing

as what's happening. And I'm going to about to hit

time. So the story carries on that,

the shepherd's they go and visit the bay in the baby and they're

convinced and they spend time with him and their hearts are

moved more than just seeing a newborn child there moved

because the immensity of who is before them and that there Is

the savior and the lord of the world sitting there, and they

leave him and they'd begin to make big of him.

And so, what do we learn from this story?

What, how does it affect us in our Advent as we give begin to

start next year? Because that's what Christmas is

about, what does it mean? Firstly that we need to spend

time with the baby, we need to give him time.

We know you need to spend time with Christ and he actually

invites us into something. Just want to read his words when

you grew up after 30 years or so.

This is his invite to you. Okay, let me read out you Cinema

Matthew. Let me find it now.

Matthew 11:28, he says this to you.

Matthew 11:28

Are you tired? This is our Jesus.

Speaking. His words are you worn out?

Are you burned out on religion? If so come to me.

Get away with me and you will recover life.

This is his invite to us. I will show you how to take

rest. Walk with me and work with me,

watch How I do things, learn The unforced rhythms of Grace, so I

won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and

lightly. That's his invite this Christmas

from his book, from his words. so my question is, if you make

Jesus Center Stage, he will invite you to come and keep

company with him. And as your glory goes up, his

peace will come down. And then go make big of him.

No, tell others about him. I share what he's done for you.

Amen.