Good New of Great Joy | Luke 2:8-11 | Coleton Segars

We were normally in a series in the Gospel of Mark.

Today we're shifting because the Gospel of Mark series was about the end of the world, and I didn't feel like we should sing that song or read that text.

And so I just I pivoted and we're going to talk about Christmas today, and that makes more sense.

Okay.

The teaching text that I'll be drawing from is actually one that I believe, I can't, one of the kids read it, but uh it's in Luke 2, um, starting in verse 8, all the way to verse 11, and we'll focus on verse 11.

This is what Luke writes.

He says, There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

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 not be afraid.

I'll bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people.

Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you.

He is the Messiah of the Lord.

This is the word of the Lord.

There's this term that was coined by J.

R.

R.

Tolkien called a U catastrophe.

A U catastrophe.

And so he input it into his books, and it was this experience of this sudden inbreaking, surprising, unexpected inbreaking of goodness into the story that you're writing that ultimately changes everything.

Sudden inbreaking that's unexpected of goodness.

And so it takes the Greek word good for you.

Um hey, there Samuel and Bethany.

Can we say hi?

Sorry, did not mean to call you out.

We just we were just celebrating your wedding, and I just we're thankful for you.

So um glad you guys are here.

What a hey, and also if you have a if you're like, I have a reason not to be at church today, they got married yesterday and they're here today.

That's some commitment right there.

I was at the lake.

Come to church.

You catastrophe.

That was not one, that was probably just, yeah, okay.

Uh you catastrophe, sudden inbreaking of goodness that's input into a story.

The the Greek word for good, you, and then catastrophe, which is a terrible one.

So a catastrophe is a sudden inbreaking of something tragic that changes everything, and a you catastrophe is the opposite of that.

And so you've seen this in movies where all of a sudden the movie seems to be going in one direction, and then all of a sudden it shifts back.

And so the one that uh Teddy and I just watched was Avengers Endgame.

And if you've ever watched Avengers Endgame, uh Captain America like straps back on a shield and he's gonna go fight Thanos again, and then right at right as he's moving to do it and he's bleeding, he's gonna get beaten up, uh, he gets this, you know, this thing in his ear and it's like on your left, and then all the Avengers show up and you weren't expecting that.

It's a s it's a you catastrophe.

It is a sudden inbreaking of joy and goodness into a story that you thought it is going this way, and then something shifts and happens, and that there's so much goodness that it changes everything.

And so I say that because one, I love that idea and I love that word, um, but that's what the angels are announcing here.

They are announcing that a you catastrophe has taken place.

Some catastrophic goodness has broken into the world that will bring good news to the world and joy to the world and all those different things.

That's what they're announcing.

And this message of Christmas is a you catastrophe message, it is a pivot from we're being oppressed by so many different things, and God has been silent for so many years, and it's like you catastrophe.

Something has broken in that's gonna change everything.

And so the message of Christmas that I want to talk about today, that the angel brings, is supposed to lead us into experiencing joy.

It's good news that will cause great joy.

And so, what I want to do today is from really verse 11, I want to look at why this particular Christmas message, this announcement that the angels have, why it should cause us great joy that we see in this text.

And in verse 11, you see that this should cause us great joy because Jesus has come to rescue us from our sin, three things, rescue us from our sin, give us an abundant type of life, give us an abundance of life, and then he's come to remove our shame.

And you see this all in verse 11, and so we'll take them one by one.

So Jesus has come to rescue us from our sin.

This is supposed to bring us joy.

It says, Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you.

That's the first announcement that a rescuer has come.

Someone has come to rescue you.

And in Matthew 1.21, I think one of the texts that they read, that they would call him Jesus because he will save them.

He will rescue you not just from your normal everyday circumstances or whatever you're dealing with.

He's gonna rescue you from something specific.

He has come to rescue you from your sin, to rescue you from your sin.

And this is important for us to understand, and it was for them as well, because they were all expecting a rescuer to come.

Like the the shepherds, the people of Israel, they're expecting and hoping a savior's gonna come.

They're waiting for this savior to show up, but they're expecting a savior to show up and to rescue them from the oppressiveness of the Roman and the Roman government, the Roman armies, and all of that oppression.

That's their expectation.

A Savior's gonna come who's gonna deliver us, like Judas Maccabeus, which is why they celebrate Hanukkah.

Another savior like him is gonna show up and he's gonna do this thing, he's gonna rescue us from the oppressive government that we're under.

And so it's important because they don't say that about Jesus.

Like a savior has come to you, a rescuer has come to you, but it is a rescuer who will rescue you and save his people from their sins.

I think this is, again, for us is very important because in God's eyes, what he sees is the most important thing that you need to be rescued from is not your current circumstances or your problems.

The thing that you need to be rescued from the most in his eyes is like you need to be rescued from your sin.

You need to be saved from your sin.

That is the thing that we actually need salvation from.

And so to understand why he believes, that is the most important thing that you need to be rescued from.

We have to understand what sin actually is and then how God actually sees it.

And so for us, I think we can see sin as like sin is a bad thing because God tells us not to do it, and it's bad for us to do it because it's bad to be disobedient to God.

Sin is bad because God says, don't do it, and I'm not supposed to be disobedient, and so that's why sin is bad.

And that's a piece of it, but that's not, that's just barely the surface.

The truth is, God sees something, sees sin as something that's actually packaged with poison.

Like it is, it's the best way to look at it.

It's like this thing, whatever that, whatever I'm telling you not to do, the reason I'm doing that is because it's packaged with poison that you won't be able to stop.

If you step into it and press into it, it will begin spreading poison into your life and death and destruction into your life.

This is why the scriptures will say that the wages of sin, the wages of sin, what it will pay you with, the wages of sin is death.

And we think of death like hell and that kind of thing, which there's a truth to that as well.

But it will actually give you here and now, to press into sin, it will pay you in some type of destruction.

The way that you do a job or you go to work somewhere, and then the wage they give you, thank you for doing that act, we will give you this in return.

To press into an act of sin is to be paid then with something that's destructive, some version of poison that's gonna spread into your life, into your family's life, into the lives of those around you.

That's how God sees it.

And so the idea that God just doesn't want us to sin because he said so, again, that's just the surface of it.

That's not the deepest thing.

Um, I've shared this story before, but a lot of new guests here today.

Uh, my kid, uh Teddy, uh, when he was three, we were renovating our house, and um, we had wires just out everywhere, right?

Like they were just changing all these different things and doing all this stuff, different fixtures and that kind of thing.

He was three years old, and so we'd walk into the house and just see like the work that they've been doing and things like that.

And one time we were walking through it, and Teddy, I don't know why they make wires look like candy.

They're like really bright colors.

It's like there's a bright yellow and red and blue, and he's like, tractor beam.

Like to that thing.

I want to touch this thing that looks like all of my toys, and everything was live.

Like there were live wires, and if you touch them, it's either gonna really, really hurt you, it might, or it might actually kill you, depending on the shock voltage of whatever goes through your body.

And so I'm we're doing stuff, looking around the house, and I see him just like towards this thing.

And uh, and I was like, I just yelled.

I was like, Jenny, no, like don't do that, like don't touch that.

And I scared him, and then he ran and told his mom that like dad yelled at me.

Um and uh, it was just true, but I was like, I'm not yelling at you, I was just trying, anyways.

Um but the reason, like it, and he could say, like, well, you just don't want me to do that, why don't you want me to do that?

It's just because you said so.

It's like, no, it's not just because I said so.

I don't want you to be obedient to me by not touching that thing because I just want your obedience.

Like it's deeper than that.

Like, I want you to be obedient to me because if you're disobedient to me, you're gonna touch something that's gonna cause pain in your life, and it might actually pay you in death.

It might actually do that.

And so, this in the same way, God doesn't want us to sin, not because he's like, it's not because I've just said so.

Like, I it's it's not that's not at surface level.

I do I'm holy and I do want that too, but like there's something much deeper than that for you to press into these things.

I'm telling you not to do it because if you press into it, it's actually going to cause you pain.

And in the same way that it would have hurt Teddy, he's like, I don't want you to do this because it's gonna do something in you, it's gonna spread destruction into your life.

And I just don't want you to experience that.

I don't want that to happen to you.

And so that's how he sees sin, not just as something that's bad, like don't do the things I tell you not to do, but as something that will actually poison you.

And so that's how he sees it.

And the reason that we need to be rescued from it, the reason it's not just like don't sin, but like you actually need to be rescued from your sin, is because we have in each of us we have this addictive desire to actually sin and to press into things and to do things that will cause damage and destruction into our lives.

There is this internal heart-addicted thing to like do the stuff that people tell us not to do.

And if you have children, you know that.

But you see this in the garden, Adam and Eve, God's like, go eat from any tree that you want, just not that one.

And they're like, totally understood.

And then the next thing that you see is they're standing right beside that freaking tree, and you're like, why are you over there?

Like you're not even supposed to eat from it.

Why are you getting close to it?

And it's like they're just addicted to this thing and over there, and then they eat from it.

You see this in the days of Noah.

It says this in Genesis 6.

It says, The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

Like he just sees, like, I created these people, and something shifted, there's this thing in them, like they just long to do things that are gonna crush them and hurt them and bring them pain and bring them destruction.

It's not only gonna kill them, it's gonna kill other people too.

Like they just long for these things, every inclination.

They're inclined in their heart with this addicted desire to do things that will release destruction into their lives.

Paul talks about this in the New Testament.

He talks about us like we're addicts.

That's how he talks about it.

Like you're an actual addict.

This is he doesn't say those words, but he talks about it like that.

Like wanting to say no, but too addicted to actually say, like I want to say no, I just can't.

This is what he says.

He says, I find this law at work.

Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

For in my inner being, I delight in God's law.

I delight to do good, and like I do want to do good.

But then I see this other law at work in me, waging war against my mind and making me a prisoner of sin at work within me.

And he says, Who will rescue me from this?

Who will rescue me from this addicted desire to do things that are actually going to, I want to do these other things, but I just cannot shift from what I want to, I want to do that, and I just can't do it.

Who will save me from this?

And I think we felt that idea.

If you've lived for any particular period of time, like we felt this.

I like I don't want to be so angry.

I don't want anger to be the way that I speak.

It's like, it's like it erupts in me and it's like I'm trying to put a top on it, and I just cannot shut it down.

Like I just, I know what it's doing to my kids, I know what it's doing to my family, I know what it's doing to my relationships.

I don't actually want to be this angry, but I just can't help it.

There's something in this that just leads me to pursue these things.

I don't, I don't want to be bitter.

I want to forgive them.

I'd actually forgiveness would be easier.

I'd love to do that, and I just cannot let it go.

I'm just stuck in this thing.

I want to do this and I can't do this.

I don't want to be so afraid.

I don't want to be so anxious, I don't want to worry all the time, but I just can't.

There's something about it, like I'm just stuck in this thing and I cannot escape from it.

I don't want to battle with lust.

I don't want to deal with this.

This isn't something I'm like, oh, I'm so excited about all these things.

Like, no, I see what it's doing to my brain and my mind and the way that I view people and my all of those things.

I see what it's doing.

I don't want to experience those things, but I cannot seem to escape this thing.

Who will save me from this?

John Piper calls sin the suicidal abandonment of joy.

Like this is just this thing that we're stuck in that we do to ourselves.

It is a death that we choose that we can't seem to escape.

We desire to do things that kill our joy, kill our love, kill our peace.

And so when the angel comes and he says, Hey, a savior's been born to you.

And what he's gonna save you from is that addicted desire to actually press into things that keep you away from God and make you feel like it just spreads death into your life.

He's gonna save you from that.

It is supposed to be this space where it's like, well, what about the Romans?

Like, don't worry about the Romans.

If I took out the Romans, you'd still have this inner thing.

They're not oppressing you as much as you are actually oppressing you.

And so let me do something in you that will set you free.

Because honestly, if I take care of the Romans, you're still you with your stuff.

Like you're still gonna be dealing with that stuff.

And so he comes to save us from the addicted desire to do the things that actually want to and will spread poison and kill us.

He wants to save us from the things that we also want to be saved from.

We just don't know how to escape them.

And he's like, I'm sending a rescuer.

He's going to save his people from their sin.

Paul continues with this question Who will save me from this?

And then he says, Thanks be to God who has delivered me through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And Paul says, This is what Jesus has accomplished on the cross.

In dying.

In dying in our place, this is what Paul says.

Our old self, this is Romans 6, our old self was crucified with him, so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, so that the power is broken, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

You used to be in this space where, like, I don't know what to do, I can't be stuck in this thing, I don't know what to do, I don't know how to say no, and he's like, You've been crucified with him, so now you're not ruled by that thing, no longer slave to sin.

Thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

He has changed to those in Christ, he breaks that power, and now he shapes and sanctifies and changes your desires from wanting to do the addicted desire to do things that bring us death and actually changes our desires by his spirit in us to do things that actually lead to righteousness that lead us into life.

He has broken the power of sin and saved us from the power of sin to those of us who are in Christ and believe in Jesus.

We were once slaves and now we're free.

I started reading this book, uh, Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry.

It's a great book, uh, if you want to read it.

Um she talks about her journey of her homosexual lifestyle uh moving into and God calling her out of that into a relationship with him.

And this is what she realized, because she struggled with it so much, and it was so she just she shares her testimony about this thing in the book, and it's really beautiful.

But she says this, she says, When Jesus died and rose, he gave you the power to defeat sin.

Literally.

Like now, you don't have to give in.

Every single time you are tempted to sin, just remember the reality that Jesus defeated it already.

You are not a slave, you are free.

You just have to believe that and walk in it.

And I think she talks about this idea that's so true because some of us are like, man, I I've I've come to faith in Jesus, but I don't feel like I've been saved from my forgiven from my sin, but I haven't been set free from the power of my sin.

She's going, that is the reality that I choose to live in.

That is reality that He has done something in the history, in time, in you.

It is available to you, but it's truth that you have to walk in.

It's something you actually have to take steps in.

And Paul says that same thing in Romans 6.

He says, You need to count yourselves dead to sin.

Count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus.

Do not, and he says it, now you can do it.

Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

Like you have a choice now that you did not have before, because Jesus has come to rescue you from your sin.

And so it's supposed to bring us good news because it's like I no longer long to touch live wires that are gonna cause me pain and possibly death.

Now I actually want to do something and choose something that actually is gonna lead me into greater and greater fulfillment and greater and greater life.

And so he has come to save us from our sin.

That's the first.

Second.

This message of Christmas should bring us joy because Jesus came to give us an abundant type of life, an abundant kind of life.

It says, Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you, and he is the Messiah.

He is the Messiah.

The Messiah is obviously not his last name.

Jesus Christ, Christ the Messiah, is not his last name.

It is his job description, it's what he has come to do.

So you should see it as like, what is what is Jesus coming to do?

Well, his job description is to be the Messiah, to do those things.

In Isaiah 61, we see the job description.

Here's what the Messiah is going to show up and do in the world.

This is his job description, and he writes it down and he speaks it out.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me.

The Messiah says, Because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

And so in this, the Messiah's job description, he gives it, he's like, I am I'm to bring good news to the poor, to the people who think they have nothing and nothing can be done for them.

Their own resources, their own stuff cannot save them.

The people that think that it's over, it's done, it's heading, my story is going this way without any change whatsoever.

He's like, I have good eukatastrophe, you I have a eukatastrophe for you.

I can I can speak goodness into those who are like, I'm hopeless, and he's like, I have hope for you.

His role is to step in and do those things.

The people who think it's done, he's like, it's not done.

To set the captives free.

The people who are oppressed by sin, Satan, death, and hell, he's gonna set them free.

Beauty instead of ashes, oil of joy instead of mourning, to change the course of people's lives.

This is describing a funeral.

Oil of joy instead of uh uh mourning, uh ashes was what they put on their head to to mourn over a funeral and the loss of life and things like that.

Instead, you're gonna have a crown of beauty.

And so what he's saying is like you don't have to live your life as if it's one long funeral.

I'm actually gonna restore joy to you.

I'm gonna move into people's stories and completely change them around where it felt like I was once mourning at a funeral to now I'm like celebrating and victorious because of what this Messiah has done.

And so that's his job description.

He has come to do those things.

And in Luke 4, Jesus says, I am that person.

I'm the Messiah, I'm the one.

I have, I'm, this is fulfilled in your hearing.

I am doing those things.

I have come to fulfill that job description.

And then if you read the gospels, all you see him doing is just one by one with people, just fulfilling what he says is his job to do.

I am the Messiah, and I'm gonna move into people's stories, and I'm gonna do these exact same things.

And he fulfills his job description.

He does this, I have a handful.

Like the paralytic who Jesus comes to him, he's he's lame there, he wants to get into the water, and Jesus comes to him, and the paralytic, if you remember what he says, he's like, it's no good.

Like it's hopeless.

I can't get down there.

And he's like, I got I have good news to the poor.

Like I actually, we don't actually need to get to that water, I can actually do that for you.

Stand up and walk.

And so he brings good news to somebody that thinks it's done.

Like the synagogue ruler whose daughter was sick and then she dies, and then his friends or the people come to him, it's like, hey, she's dead.

Don't trouble the teacher anymore.

And Jesus is like, I got good news for you.

Let's keep going.

Just believe, let's keep going.

I can still do something in the midst of this terrible, hopeless situation.

It's not hopeless, let's keep going.

Like the woman with the issue of blood, the doctors say nothing can be done, and then Jesus heals her.

Mary Magdalene and the demoniac who are oppressed by demons, and like nothing can be done for them.

And then Jesus steps into that story and releases the captives that are actually held captive by the demons, lepers, the blind, the broken, the hopeless.

Every single person in the gospels who comes to Jesus believing that He they want those things and they believe that He can do those things.

This job description is fulfilled in their lives.

He is the Messiah for them.

They experience his goodness.

They experience this prophecy of what he's going to do.

They experience it taking place in his life because that's what he's come to do.

And so this is supposed to be good news for us as well because this is not just something he did.

This is something that he still wants to do.

He is still the Messiah.

He is still going to fulfill this job description in the world.

And if you will let him, he will do this in your life.

He will actually preach good news to the poor, to those who are hopeless.

He will shift and change things.

And he will bring about an abundant type of life that we cannot get on our own.

That's what he'll do.

To those who actually believe that he will do it and believe in him for it, he will do those things.

And I think I was working on this and I was just thinking about that.

I was like, I know there are so many people who are like, I struggle with believing that Jesus can actually change my story.

And I think for us, if he hasn't done that, if he hasn't fulfilled this job description in your life, you're like, that's his job description.

He hasn't done that in my life.

I would just very gently and humbly say, um, then I believe that you actually, if he hasn't fulfilled that job description, then I believe that you actually haven't met the real Jesus.

Because this isn't like he might do his job description, or he could be a liar.

It's not that.

He's like, this is my job description, I will crush it.

I'm going to absolutely make sure I do all those things.

And so it's possible to know a ton about Jesus, it's possible to go to church your entire life, and it's possible to miss out on all the transformation that he actually brings into your life.

I know a ton about him, I know all this stuff, and I haven't experienced any of that.

But if he hasn't fulfilled this job description in your life, you either haven't met him yet, or you haven't let him do the things that he wants to do in your life.

Because this is the this type of thing, this job description, it's not what he might do, it's what he came to do.

And he did this for me.

I didn't believe it either.

When somebody told me that Jesus would change my life, I was like, How?

Like I didn't really, that didn't make any sense, but he did.

He radically transformed my story and radically changed my life.

And the fact that I'm in church today still baffles some of my friends back in Georgia.

They're like, What?

And now my kid sings and my wife does stuff.

You know, she's a Christian too, and I like I don't know why she loves she loves me, even you know, anyways.

Jesus has done an amazing thing in my story, he's completely changed my life.

But what was interesting, when I came to faith, I was 17, still in high school, and my friends in high school that watched me come to faith, they were one of the things I noticed, they liked that I had become a better friend.

Like I wasn't dangerous to be around anymore.

You know, it was good.

Um but they they just didn't like that it came with Jesus.

Like they loved that I was a better friend, that I was a kinder person, that I actually cared about them, I wasn't trying to use them.

They liked that.

They just didn't like that I wanted to talk about Jesus, that I wanted to go to church now, that I wanted them to come to know Jesus, that I wanted them to come to church.

They loved the change.

They just didn't like who it came with.

And I find that so often with people.

I see a lot of people who want the transformation that Jesus brings.

They just don't want Jesus as king over their life.

I want the stuff.

I love the stuff.

I just don't want him.

AW Tozer says that we we like to treat Jesus the way that Saul treated David.

We want him to fight our battles for us and slay our giants.

We just don't want him to be king.

I want him to do every single thing.

Okay, he wants to be king.

He's anointed to be king.

No, I don't want any of that.

But you can keep fighting those battles, though, that'd be nice.

And we want Jesus to do the exact same thing.

I want all the stuff that you can do.

I want the job description of the Messiah fulfilled in my story.

I want that.

I just don't want you specifically.

I want the stuff I just don't want you.

And it just doesn't happen that way.

And I think for many people inside the church, they're not experiencing those things because they want the stuff, but they just don't want Jesus.

Or they haven't met Jesus.

They know a ton about him, but they haven't actually believed in him enough to actually experience these things in there.

Because these aren't things that he might do.

This is what he'll do.

Give him your life, and he's like, watch me work.

I will do those things.

I will not fail.

I will do those things.

And every single person who actually did have the courage, the faith, whatever, to give him their life, they watched him do those things that nobody else could do.

They watched him do things in their lives that they couldn't do themselves.

But it won't happen if you want him, want his stuff, but you don't want him as king and leader over your life.

You will be shaped.

Your life will be shaped by whatever Messiah you actually believe in.

And so many people inside the church call themselves Christians, but they still look to the world as their messiah.

Call myself a Christian, go to church a lot, but really I believe the world is going to fill my life with abundance.

The world is what where all of my fullness and life will actually live.

I need to go out there to get it.

And I just come here to do some Jesus stuff on the weekends and stuff like that.

And so many Christians are like, is he your Messiah?

Yes, but in life, no.

I still look to the world to give me everything that I need.

But you will be shaped by your Messiah.

Whatever is your Messiah, you'll be shaped by that thing.

And so if the world is your Messiah, you'll be shaped into the world's image, but the world is broken.

And so going to it to actually be shaped by it, you'll be shaped into a life that's riddled and packed with brokenness.

Doing the church thing, calling yourself a Christian, but actually being shaped more by the world because it is your Savior, it is your Messiah, it's what you're looking for for fullness.

And it's like, if you do that, you're gonna be so disappointed, and you might even blame God for it.

See, God, you're not doing this stuff.

And it's like you're not turning to me, you're still looking for it out there.

But if you choose Jesus to be your Messiah, he will form you into his image, he will shape you into his likeness.

He is the way, the truth, the life.

And so, because he is fullness of life, if you choose to walk after him and to follow him and choose him as your Messiah, he will shape your life into more and more abundance of life because that's what he says he came to do.

He will give you that thing.

And it's not a maybe.

He will do this.

That's what he sent to do.

And so this message is supposed to be good news from the angels to all people.

Because it's like, look, someone has come to you to fulfill the role of the Messiah in your life, and if you will let him, he will do that.

And he will not fail.

The only issue is you have to let him do it.

You have to give him your life in order to do it.

And supposed to bring us good news because anybody who comes to Jesus and gives him their life, they will experience him fulfilling that job description in their lives.

And then the last the message of Christmas is good news because he has come to remove our shame.

He has come to remove our shame.

Verse 11 Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you.

He is the Messiah, the Lord.

John Tyson and Jeff Banke in his in their book, Fighting Shadows, says this about shame and gives us a definition.

He says, Shame is not guilt.

Guilt is the sense that I've done something wrong.

Shame is the sense that there is something wrong with me.

Shame tells you that you're the reason your father abandoned you.

Shame whispers that you're the reason that relationship didn't work out.

You're not good enough, attractive enough, interesting enough for them.

Shame is the internalization that there is something fundamentally wrong with me.

And one of the things that used to exist in the world was a shamelessness.

We didn't experience shame.

We didn't have a whisper whispering to us that there's something fundamentally wrong with us.

Moses says it five times in Genesis.

They were naked, Adam and Eve, naked and unashamed, naked and unashamed, naked and unashamed.

Shame did not exist in this particular space.

And the reason that the people was because they were in this perfect relationship with the Lord.

And they were in his presence and experienced this perfect, unbroken relationship with him, and they received their identity from him.

Somebody's coming.

I told you guys you're so now everybody's like, alright, don't tackle me.

The reason they didn't experience shame is because they got their identity from him.

He was telling them, he was telling them, I've made you.

You were made in my image.

There's nothing, there's nothing wrong with you.

I've made you perfectly the way that I made you.

They were in perfect relationship with God.

Donald Miller says it this way in his book, Searching for God Knows What.

He says, in saying that they were naked and unashamed, Moses was saying, Men and women are wired so we get our glory, our security, our value, our feeling of purpose, our feeling of rightness, get all those things from God.

We're wired so we get all those things from God.

And because this relationship was so strong and God's love was so purely felt, Adam and Eve felt no insecurity at all, so much so that they walked around naked and didn't even realize it.

And so they lived in this world where there was, they were never wondering, is something wrong with me?

They were never wondering, is there anything to worry about?

They were never worried with that.

They were not feeling those things.

But then as soon as sin entered the relationship, as soon as they sinned, it broke that relationship, that constant pouring in of identity being given to you by the Lord, all of a sudden that that the tap was cut off and they weren't receiving that anymore.

And Donald Miller says it, uh continues, he says, when that relationship was broken, they felt it instantly, like something was broken.

He talks about it.

I didn't have enough time to put it in there, but he talks about it as like if you've ever been at Disney World or an amusement park or something like that, and you're with your kids and you're holding their hand, and then all of a sudden you let go of their hand to, you know, check the map or whatever, and then you reach down for their hand and you look around and they're not there.

Whatever that feeling is, as a parent, you're like, what are they?

And like it might be five seconds, but it feels like an eternity.

Like, whatever flood of emotion that you get right there, he describes it like that.

This must have been something of what they felt.

They have never experienced no insecurity was felt at all when I was holding their hand.

And now, not holding their hand and not seeing them, something hits me hard.

He's like, and he's like, when that relationship was broken, they felt that.

All of the glory, all of the insecurity, all of the value that came from God was gone.

And for the first time ever, they were pining for something to tell them that they are good, something to tell them that they're right, something to tell them they're okay and secure.

And so that's when they begin to hide and cover up, searching for something.

They're just looking for something to make the feeling go away, something to make them feel like there's nothing wrong with me.

And so they just cover up.

And it's interesting if you read Genesis 3, God comes to them and he asks this question, because they're hiding, like we were naked, so we hid.

And he's like, Who told you you were naked?

Who?

And the answer is shame did.

There's this whisper that broke into their story that never used to be there.

Something started whispering to them, you are not okay.

Something is fundamentally wrong with you.

And so all of a sudden they move into this space where they actually have to go and try and find something to tell them that they're worthy.

And they find some fig leaves.

There's a lot of interesting things and connections between Jesus cursing the fig tree, it only had leaves on it, no fruit.

Like he's been wanting to curse that tree for a minute.

But Donald Miller says, that whisper, who told you that you were naked?

Shame.

That whisper that they experienced for the first time, he says, for us, we were born with that.

We've never experienced the other thing.

We were born with a whisper, something telling us there's something wrong inside of us.

We are born looking for something to try and quiet that voice and to quiet that whisper.

So for me in high school, the thing that quieted that whisper that I wasn't worthy or I wasn't lovable or something like that, the thing that did that was get every single girl I possibly can to like me.

I don't want to date them all because that sounds like a tragedy.

But if I can just flirt enough to get them to like me, somehow that return of flirt, flirt, or whatever that is, like that return of affection, it just made me feel like, okay, I am lovable.

I it just it quiets.

And if I didn't get it, it was just painful.

I got case in point, I got uh most flirtatious of my superlative, like not the best for a pastor.

Um, but I wasn't then.

Um but like that was the thing, like, of course I got that.

I needed it.

I would die if I didn't have it.

Something is fundamentally wrong with me.

And getting a girl to like me just hold that voice to be quiet.

I made it a little more quiet, didn't take it away, just made it more quiet.

Some people try and quiet that voice by being the funny person, making people laugh.

Matthew Perry, who played Chandler on Friends in his memoir, he talks about this.

He said that he needed them to laugh.

Like he would write these jokes, he's like, I need them to laugh.

And he'd say a joke sometimes and it wouldn't land and nobody would laugh.

And they said that they would have to pause, cut, and to take a break because many times he would have to run back to his dressing room and just repair himself because it crushed him.

He's like, I needed it.

I didn't know who I like, I needed time to actually figure out who I was.

Because when they didn't laugh, the voice of shame did not get quiet.

It got louder.

See, no one does love you.

And it was like, it just ruined him.

So they would take these long, sometimes hour breaks in between filming because he had to go collect himself because they didn't laugh at his joke.

But he was trying to quiet that voice.

Some people try to cover that voice with anger by just being mean to people.

I don't care what people think.

And it's like it's a good defense mechanism.

Because if you never let them get close enough, them leaving you or the possibility of them rejecting you makes you the person who's like, see, they didn't reject me, I didn't want them anyways.

And so the voice of you will be rejected, you're not worth keeping.

You're like, I don't have to hear that voice because I left them first.

And it's just a way of quieting that voice.

Some people cover it by needing approval, being liked by everyone.

If people like me, then I'm lovable.

See, they like me.

So they'll go all out trying to just get somebody to like them or something like that, trying to be the person that everybody likes so that it quiets that voice.

Some people do it with their looks, their bodies working out.

If I can look a certain way, if I can have a certain beauty, then all of a sudden I will feel better about myself and it'll quiet the voice that I'm not worth loving.

Some people do it by posting on social media.

Shame whispers that you're not pretty enough.

So then people post these pictures, sometimes scandalous pictures.

They're just trying to get likes.

They're trying to get people to comment on them.

I was in student ministry for 15 years.

This was most of student ministry.

All there was just, I just need somebody to tell me I'm beautiful because the voice that I hear inside my head is, you are not beautiful.

You are not worthy.

You are not valuable.

You are not important.

And so if I can get a photo posted that then people like and share or comment on, all of a sudden it doesn't take it away.

It just brings that whisper a little bit further down.

Some people do this by needing relationship.

They don't know who they are outside of relationship.

I have to be in a relationship.

And if I'm not in a relationship, I can't live, I can't breathe.

I have to be in one.

The relationship gives me worth, it gives me value, it quiets the voice that tells me I'm not.

Some people do this by overcompensating and trying to be perfect in everything.

I'm not a failure.

Look at my life.

Everything is perfect.

Perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect.

And it just overcomes it.

They're so set on like I gotta make sure everything's perfect because I cannot hear the voice that I'm a failure.

And if I do hear that voice, I can point to all these things and say I'm not.

And then the other side of that is undercompensating.

Some people choose to undercompensate because they still hear the voice in the whisper.

Like I still hear that I'm a failure.

But when they undercompensate and not really try, what they can say to the voice is, I'm not a failure, I never really tried.

If I would have tried, then I could have done it.

But because I undercompensated, I always have something to speak back to the whisper.

You're a failure.

No, I'm not.

I would have won if I didn't, if I wanted to.

I just didn't want to.

And so people undercompensate in their lives.

Some people do this by numbing out.

The voice is still there, but it's harder to hear when you're drunk.

Harder to hear when you're high.

Some people do this with career success, recognition, independence, their pedigree, where they went to school, what they're gonna do.

I need these things to quiet the voice that I'm not good enough.

I need this stuff because shame speaks and it whispers something into us.

And if we're like, if I can get these things going in my life, then that voice will get a little more quiet.

We are born with that.

There's something in us that's whispering to us.

And we're looking for something that finally makes us feel like there's nothing wrong with us, that there's not something fundamentally wrong with us.

And what we're actually looking for at the end of the day, what we're actually looking for is exactly what Adam and Eve had at the beginning.

We're looking for a perfect peace relationship with God where he can actually speak back into us and pour glory back into us and give us an identity again.

That's what we're actually longing for.

This is why those other things don't really work.

It might be a band-aid, but they don't actually work because you have to get them again and again and again.

What we're actually longing for is the perfect relationship that Adam and Eve have.

And so for the angel to announce, it's not just a savior, it's not just the Messiah, it is God Himself.

He is Emmanuel.

He has come to be God with you.

He is restoring what was lost in the garden.

And inside a relationship with him, you can actually encounter this space again with the shame that tells you that there's something fundamentally wrong with you, that he can actually remove that and you can be in perfect relationship with him again.

This is why Jesus says, Come to me.

You don't have rest for your souls because your shame is whispering into your soul that there's something wrong with you.

Come to me, and I will give you rest for your souls, this rest that you're longing for, this thing that you're searching for that you can't find.

I will bring you back into perfect relationship with the Father, where you experience what you're actually longing for.

You've been fighting to end the voice of shame and to quiet the voice of shame.

I can actually just remove that shame from you.

And so the angel's message that is supposed to cause us great joy, it's supposed to do that because of these three things.

Jesus has come.

He has come for you to save you from the addictive desire to do things that cause pain and death in your life.

Jesus has come to give you an abundant type of life, and Jesus has come to silence the whisper of shame and remind you that you are God's son and God's daughter.

It says that his spirit testifies with your spirit.

His spirit testifies with your spirit.

And what it says is like, I am you are a son or daughter of God.

It reminds you of that.

It is supposed to bring you back.

No, I'm I there's something fundamentally wrong with me.

He's like, not you, you're a son or daughter with me.

And if you are a son or a daughter, if you're a child, then you are an heir of God.

You are a co-heir with Christ.

And so what has been said over Jesus is this is my son, whom I love, with him I'm well pleased.

And what the Father wants to do in a relationship where it's perfect, he wants to say that to you over and over and over.

You are my son, you are my daughter, whom I love, with you I'm well pleased.

He wants to remove those things that tell you that you're not.

And so how will he do this?

How did he do this?

Well, right now it's Christmas and we have the just the entry point, the incarnation, Jesus showing up and announcing this.

But one day on the cross, he will actually do all of those things by actually giving his life on the cross.

And so he's told, if you are who you say you are, save yourself.

But he chooses not to save himself.

He's the savior who cannot save himself.

But he chooses, in order to save you, he chooses to give up his life.

I will save them by dying for them.

He was broken and poured out so that you could actually be filled with abundance.

He was made poor so that we might become rich with the riches of heaven.

He was crucified naked and ashamed.

He was unlike Adam and Eve.

They were naked and unashamed, and then in sin they were naked and ashamed.

Jesus becomes naked and ashamed on the cross and crucify him completely naked, trying to shame him completely, and he takes on our shame in order to steal and take away our shame.

And so he was crucified in that way so that he can actually do the thing that we need.

Jesus is the premier eukatastrophe.

He is the unexpected goodness that we've all been searching for that will change everything.

And so my encouragement to you, here, now, forever, look to him, not just once, but forever.

Look to him, give your life to him.

He is everything and all that you actually need, and he's everything that you've actually been searching for.

And so this message from the angel, it's like it's good news that will bring you great joy because everything you've been longing for and looking for is now come here for you.

And you can experience this in real time.

And so my encouragement to you is don't look away from that and don't look away from him.

Look to him for these things.

Let me pray.