Christmas at Redemption (Luke 2_8-20) Myles Holmes _ December 24, 2025

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

Well, I do have a Christmas confession.

That was my daughter who was beating up Adam's kids during that.

Joel's son was also tag teaming, so there's some staff dysfunction going on.

Those pastors' kids, pray for them, I tell you, pray for them.

If you have your Bibles, you can open them to Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

If you don't have a copy of God's Word, the ushers are making their way to the front of the worship center, and you can flag one of them down, and they would love to get a copy into your hands, and we would love for you to take this home as our gift to you.

Christmas invites us to do all sorts of things that we, on the one hand, don't get to do at other times in the year.

On another hand, we probably shouldn't do at other times in the year.

Maybe today, tomorrow, or the next day, some of you guys are gonna enjoy some delicious food.

The invitation to a table filled with food that, you know, if we're gonna make our doctors happy, we probably shouldn't eat too often.

I talked to someone about their Christmas mashed potatoes.

There is so much cheese in these potatoes, I thought I should probably talk to law enforcement.

It seemed criminal.

We're invited to do traditions, maybe silly traditions.

I'm gonna go home after this.

My kids are gonna put on their Christmas pajamas and we're gonna watch The Snowman, which you probably don't know.

It is a British silent cartoon.

And what you're thinking about me is probably true.

There are better things to watch.

However, that's tradition.

And that's what we do in our house once a year.

Kids, kids are in here.

Can we hear it from the kids?

Your parents told you not to be loud, but you can be loud right now.

If you're a kid in here, give us a little cheer, okay?

A clap.

Wow, nice.

Okay.

I think that was mostly the parents.

That was mostly the parents, but kids, you are doing really good.

And maybe there are some presents under the tree that you are excited.

You're excited to open tomorrow.

Okay, kids, now's the time where you can be quiet again and listen to your parents, okay?

Nevertheless, Christmas invites us to do a number of things, but none of them compare to what Luke tells us about the first Christmas and the invitation we receive in that first Christmas.

And in fact, if you know you're more excited about these things that we're talking about, I think you've really under misunderstood what historically happened on the first night of Christmas.

And so I want to show you exactly what we are invited to.

The reality is that on the first day of Christmas, we learn that we are invited into heaven's worship.

That heaven is this constant overflow, you might call it an eruption of praise and worship for the goodness and glory of God.

And what happens on that first Christmas, and thereafter, every Christmas, is that we receive the invitation to join the angels' voices to worship alongside them.

I want you to see this in the text.

Follow along with me as I read in Luke chapter 2, beginning in verse 8.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

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 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.

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 among those whom He is 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 baby laying in a manger.

When they saw it, they made known the saying that they had been told them, that had been told them concerning this child, and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told them.

Heaven is erupting with praise, and the invitation to you is to join the voices of the angels as they worship God this Christmas.

And I want you to see this invitation really in three words in this passage.

It is an invitation to come, it is an invitation to see, and it is an invitation to sing.

Notice first that it is an invitation to come.

As we read the story of the first Christmas, the first thing that strikes us is that Christmas is not a story of man finding God.

No, it's quite the opposite.

Christmas is a story of God moving towards man.

It is what makes Christianity unlike any other religion in the world, and then at the very center of it is not a story of man finding God, discovering God, finally being good enough to be in God's presence instead, it is a story of a holy God transcending his mountain from heaven to earth to find us.

And that is exactly what we find.

And verse 8 and 9, there are shepherds out in a field, and you notice what they're not doing.

They aren't praying.

The shepherds aren't at the synagogue at the center of religious activity.

The shepherds are not helping old ladies across the street, positioning themselves to be morally adequate for God.

They're on the night watch.

They're in the fields.

And in the fields, we are told in verse 9, an angel of the Lord appeared to them.

They were not looking for this, but the glory of the Lord shone undeniably around them so that when they went to Bethlehem, all they could see, all they could say was that that which the angel said was the Lord making it known to them, revealing it to them.

Glory shines to them.

Christmas is an invitation to come and receive all that God has given to us in Jesus Christ.

And I want you to know, loved one, that that differs from every other worship in the world.

Do you know that everything else that you worship tells you actually to go and become?

Christmas says come and receive.

Everything else says go and become.

Have you ever thought about that?

I mean, if your real desire in life is maybe you want to get in shape and you know the New Year's is around the corner.

And I'm sorry to tell you this before you're about to indulge in the Christmas potatoes we talked about earlier.

Maybe your goal, you want to be in shape.

Maybe, maybe you think, man, I would just be happy if I could lose 20 pounds.

And listen, what you want is always just outside of your reach.

Go and become.

Go become more disciplined.

Go work more harder.

Go starve yourself in order to become this thing.

Well, maybe the thing you want isn't body image, maybe the thing you want is success.

And again, this is a message that says, go and become.

You got to go climb the corporate ladder.

You gotta go work harder.

You gotta go make sure you position yourself above other people that might get the promotion.

Go and become.

Maybe your thing is peace.

You know, at this time in the year, as you have family coming over in a few days, you just want peace.

And again, it's a message, go and become.

Go control your schedule, go plan out your days, go make sure that everyone is on the same page as you.

You need peace.

And into the myriad of messages we hear in this world to go and become something that we are not currently.

Christmas says, come and receive.

Come and receive something that you do not deserve, something that you are entirely unworthy of, but you are offered, not because you have gone to God, but because God, loved one, has come to you.

And maybe tonight you're here and it's not you finding God.

Maybe the reason you're here is because God is finding you through his word in the presence of his Holy Spirit and the proclamation of his son Jesus Christ.

Christmas is an invitation to come because he has come near.

I want you to notice also, though, that Christmas is an invitation to see.

Christmas is an invitation to see.

Notice the angel's message in verse 10 and 11.

The angel, a messenger from God, speaks to them in time and space, and his voice rings out into the field, and the shepherds hear these words fear not, for behold, look at this.

Look, look, look.

God is saying to us, look, behold something tonight.

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.

Now, everything that you need to know about Jesus is jam-packed into what the angels say about him.

We have a lot of assumptions about who Jesus is.

Some of you might have heard before that Jesus is a great teacher, that perhaps he's a great moral example.

Well, the angels come and they tell you something entirely different: that he is a savior, he is the Christ, and he is the Lord.

Notice first what the angels tell us about this Jesus, that he is a savior.

You know, the angels assume something about you.

It's kind of offensive at the very heart of it.

The angels assume that the thing that you need is not just understanding, it is rescue.

The angels assume that your problem is a problem of lostness, for which you need a savior.

And the fascinating thing about what this messenger from God has to say to you tonight is that this messenger, the angel, on the very first Christmas, as he spoke these words to the shepherds, saying that a savior has come, did not need that savior.

Theologically, angels are these angels are not fallen.

They're not in need of rescue, they're not in need of redemption.

But as they come to these shepherds and as they soon burst out in song, the thing that they burst out about, the thing that makes them erupt into praise is seeing the salvation, the grace of God delivered to man.

We need a savior, these angels say.

Well, well, they they also say we need a Christ, a Christ.

This very word means anointed one, the the king.

It is a the long-awaited one of the scripture has spoken about.

And it's fascinating.

If you know the stories of scripture, you know that time and time again, the angels are God's servants who do God's biddings throughout the time times in redemptive history.

The angels come at various times and they serve the Lord's needs.

And so these angels have been around and they they've seen humanity's problems and they've been there to deliver help at times, to be sort of mini-deliverers.

And here in this baby in a manger, they they know this is the Messiah, this is the king, this is the one that humanity has needed from the beginning.

And they burst out in praise.

I mean, they have seen thousands of years of humanity being restless, searching after other gods.

And maybe you felt that in your own life.

Maybe you felt the restlessness of chasing the thing that you've most wanted.

Maybe you have have gotten the thing that you thought one day would make you happy, and it just has not ever delivered what it promised it would.

And here are the angels circling Jesus, this baby in a manger, saying, Here it is.

Here is the king, here is the one that your heart has been looking for, here is the one to which you will be restless until you find it is Jesus, the Christ.

But loved one, notice that he is not only a savior, he is not only the Christ, he is the Lord.

He is not a Lord, he is the Lord.

And in this manger, we are told, is the one who controls all things, the Lord Himself.

And the angels come saying, Listen, we have great news.

The Lord has come, you will find him, these angels say.

Verse 12.

Wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

And then the angels burst out in song.

And you know, the angels don't burst out in song because they see the power of God.

They've seen the power of God before.

Isaiah saw it in Isaiah chapter 6, where he saw the Lord enthroned and around him with a cherubim singing, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

These angels, they knew the power of God, but they don't worship at the power of God here.

They worship at the condescending the worship at the humility of God, the condescension of God.

That he has come from heaven to earth.

That the Lord who spoke the world into existence is here as a baby.

That the God who once dwelled in heaven has put on human flesh.

They have seen Jesus for who he is, and they cannot help but to praise, singing, Glory to God in the highest, in honor of peace among those with whom he is pleased.

My question is, why do we so often overlook the things that the angels see?

Maybe you've heard this about Jesus before.

You've heard that Jesus is a savior, you've heard that Jesus is the Christ, you've heard that Jesus is the Lord.

And the answer we find from this gospel writer, Luke, is that the reason we overlook it is because it is a glory that is easy to overlook.

It is a glory that's found in a manger.

It's not where you would expect to find it.

And what we have this Christmas Eve is an angel pointing our attention to a glory that apart from their help, we may miss.

Recently I went to a museum at Space Borden here in Ontario.

It was a war museum, and I walked into a giant hangar.

And in this hangar, there were many tanks and vehicles and weapons, and I spent about 30 seconds in that hangar and felt what I felt whenever I've visited a museum.

I felt like I had seen it all.

I've been here long enough.

I don't know if that's how you feel about museums.

That's certainly how I feel.

And yet I, you know, I knew there was a tour coming, and I knew I had a few more hours here, and so I thought, well, something better, exciting, better happened.

And then a tour guide came out.

And I had already seen everything there was to see.

I had walked around, you know, it looked like a bunch of really old vehicles.

And I see that in my driveway every day, so it didn't seem like anything special to me.

But then this tour guide began to share with this excitement.

I'm sure you've experienced this before, all the details behind these machines.

How much steel was involved in creating it, where the soldiers would sit cramped with these little eye holes to look through.

They talked about how these nations completely put everything on pause so that they could produce more and more vehicles for the war.

And as this tour guide began to speak, I began to see a glory in something that I had once missed.

I started started to see the beauty of the collaborative effort of these nations to protect the freedom that they loved.

Loved ones, the angels are standing before you this evening as tour guides, saying, Look again.

Look again at Jesus Christ.

You know, just because you have been in the museum, just because you have grown up in the church, just because you have heard it before, does not mean that you have comprehended it.

And loved one, at a moment like this, I ask you to check your heart and ask yourself this question.

Have you seen everything there is to see about Jesus?

Have you known all there is to know about Jesus?

And if your answer is like, yeah, you know, I've I've checked him out, I've tried to figure out what he's all about, and I just don't see it.

I want you to know you are so sadly mistaken here that the angels of heaven have been worshiping since they were created and they have not ceased.

So that John in Revelation has a vision into heaven, and at that random moment that he has this vision into heaven, what does he see?

He sees the angels falling on their face before the Lord, declaring his holiness and his worthiness and his glory and his honor and his power, worshiping him 24-7.

Because if you were to worship him 24-7, you would not know of his glory.

Christians in this room, they know what this is like to spend a lifetime following after Christ, seeking to know him, seeking to understand his worth, and feeling like at even at our best moments, we're just like a sponge in an ocean of glory and beauty.

Love when you don't know the beginning, and here the angels are pointing to Jesus, saying, Look at this, look at this, he is the Christ.

He is the Lord, He is the Savior.

How do you know that you've seen Him?

And we're invited to come, we're invited to see.

And the third thing I want you to see is that we're invited to sing.

We know that we've seen Him when we join heaven song.

I want you to understand this that worship is never something that you begin.

I mean, we began our worship service, but worship had already begun in heaven.

And all that we did as we joined our voices together was join the voices of angels who constantly cry out about the worth and the glory of Jesus Christ.

Worship is something that we are awakened to.

We see this in Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

That first there is one angel, but in verse 13, we're told suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God.

These angels know where the worship of God is.

Christmas season, my heart is drawn to buffet tables.

I love food.

You invite me to your house for some food, I will eat that food.

Angels, angels know where the glory of God is being revealed.

And here, at the moment that Jesus Christ is spoken about, at the moment the Savior that humanity needs is spoken about, a multitude of angels appear declaring, glory to God in the highest.

The angels join together in this song that is told to us in verse 14.

It is the gospel, glory to God in the highest.

On earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased.

It is a song that describes the gospel, a glory going up to God, a peace coming from God down to man, a glory given to God because salvation is of the Lord.

Salvation is his work.

Salvation has been made possible for us by a baby who lies in a manger who has a mission, a mission to go to the cross, to die on the cross.

Having lived the perfect life, Jesus Christ would die, a death he did not deserve to die.

He had no sin in and of himself, and yet he was hung with Christ.

Criminals in the place of a criminal.

It was our sin that nailed him there.

And it was for our life that he was resurrected.

And as the angels behold this baby who is the savior of the world, they cannot help but to give glory to God because salvation is of the Lord and peace has come down to sinners.

Salvation is God's work.

Glory to Him.

Salvation is God's gift.

Peace to man.

Angels declare the gospel.

I want you to notice, loved ones, that everything that happens as soon as the angels sing is person after person joining the angel's song.

The shepherds they go to Bethlehem and they tell Mary and Joseph.

And Mary treasures these things up in her heart, pondering them.

And the shepherds return, and you see what they're doing in verse 20?

They returned, glorifying and praising God.

The shepherds mirror heaven.

They glorify and praise God, just as the angels glorified and praised God.

And my question is: what makes them sing?

What makes the shepherds glorify and praise?

Loved one, it is what they have seen.

They were invited to come when the glory shone.

They were invited to see when the angels spoke.

And having seen what the angels spoke of, they could not help but for their hearts to sing.

Grace had completely changed their lives.

It had awakened a worship.

And if you are going to worship Christ, I want you to know that is the only way.

Religion cannot force you to worship.

Law cannot force you to worship.

And that is why so many look at Jesus and miss him.

Because if all you have to transform your heart is law, it can do nothing.

You must see grace.

You must see glory.

You must see a goodness in Jesus Christ.

You know, last night I was using my time to feast my eyes upon one of the greatest cultural works that has ever been created in at least English human history.

I'm talking about the Grinch.

I'm talking about Jim Carrey's version of the Grinch, right?

Like we're not talking about these other new ones.

It's Jim Carrey's version.

And I was watching that, and I think I think what we're talking about here is highlighted really well.

That, by the way, was another Pastor Joel's kid who was saying he knows the Grinch, okay?

So we got some work to do, staff, okay?

I gotta say, Melanie's kids have been doing great.

They've been doing great.

So I mean they're a lot older, but they're doing really well.

Just watching the Grinch, and you know, I think this is highlighted.

I don't I don't know if you remember, uh, near the beginning of the Grinch, all of Hooville.

Did you expect to hear this kind of illustration when you came to a Christmas Eve service?

I don't know if you did, but here you are.

All of Hooville wants the Grinch to be transformed.

And so they find themselves at an award ceremony for the um Christmas Cheermeister.

And the Chris the award of the Christmas Cheermeister goes to the person who you know lives with the most hudom and hooery.

And all of Hooville wants the Grinch to win this award.

They think maybe if we give them this award, maybe if he comes to the ceremony, then he will be changed.

And so they decide we're gonna give the Grinch this award, and he comes, and you might remember the scene.

They put on a sweater, it's way too tight for him, and he's miserable.

They put him up on a chair, they parade him around the town, they're cheering, they're singing Christmas songs, he is absolutely miserable.

And what happens?

He goes back up to the mountain more hardened than he was when he came down.

And if you haven't known the grace of God, that is what Christianity has been for you.

Because you've only known religion, because you've only known rule, because you've only known law, every time you've been around Jesus, it's actually only hardened your heart to him more.

What must happen for the Grinch to be transformed, to be changed?

Well, it's not until he steals all the presents, he completely ruins Christmas, he's up back in that mountain, kind of reveling in what he's done, that he hears all of Huville singing another song.

I don't know if one of the you know men wants to come up and sing the song for us, maybe like a little solo.

I don't know, that'd be kind of cool right now, but maybe a little embarrassing, so we'll skip that part.

The Grinch hears them singing this song, and his heart starts to change because he sees that these who's they have something to celebrate even without presents.

Even when Christmas is completely ruined, they they have a joy that erupts in this song, that erupts in this praise.

And that's when the Grinch's heart starts to change.

And loved one, I want you to know that that principle taken out of that silly story for something so you know juvenile as Christmas spirit is what we see in the gospel, that your heart will not be transformed until you see the grace of God.

That religion can make you kind of do the whole show, it can make you do the parade, it can make you kind of play the part, be a part of the ceremony, but it will not change your heart.

It will only harden your heart.

You know what happens when you receive the invitation to come to Jesus and then to see Jesus as the Savior, the King, the Lord that He is.

Then your heart softens.

Until all that remains is a song.

Religion has demanded worship.

My question for you, loved one, is has grace awoken worship?

And maybe you're here tonight, and I want you to know you are in the presence of many for whom grace has awoken worship in them.

And they are about to sing a song.

Doing what the angels did, giving glory to God.

And man, if you could know the lives in here and the things that have been robbed from them at times, the suffering that they have experienced even now, it would shock you to know that these people are singing.

And yet, because the faith is in Jesus Christ, they have a hope.

A hope.

And you know, loved one, I want you to know that you can have that hope too.

That you can sing a song in the darkness of this world which cannot be taken from you.

It is a song that you will sing when your heart is awoken to the realities that the angels have told us about.

Heaven's song, even now, is still ringing, thousands of years later.

The angels are worshiping.

The question for us tonight is: will we join them?

Will we stand and sing alongside with them?

And I'm gonna invite the worship team up at this point in time because we have an opportunity to respond to what the Lord perhaps is doing and the Holy Spirit is revealing.

We're gonna sing the song, O Holy Night.

It may be, I'm sure it is familiar to you.

What a fitting song for us to sing as we see what the angels see, and we are invited to fall on our knees and to sing these words along with them.

Let all within us praise his holy name.

Would you stand with us and praise the Lord?

And as before we do that, let me pray.

Father, thank you for all that you have shown us in Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

God, we have been directed by an angel as we watch them direct the shepherds to where life and joy and peace is found.

It is found in your Son, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, who died the death that we deserve to die, and was resurrected with the life that we have always wanted for us.

God, great words of comfort have been given to us for unto you, unto us, unto me, was born on Christmas Day a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

And God, knowing the peace that Jesus has offered to bring into our lives, I pray now that a glory would go up from this place to heaven.

God, giving you glory for the work that you have done.

A song that is sung by your saints, because you have invited us to come and see all that has been done for us.

We give you all the praise.

We thank you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.