Advent 04: Christmas Eve

Isaiah 9, 1 through 7.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.

In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Natali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness on them has light shone.

You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy.

They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor.

You have broken as on the day of Midian.

For every boot of the trampling warrior in the battle tumult, and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the increase of his government, and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with the justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

This is the word of the Lord.

Please be seated.

All right.

Merry Christmas.

And let me try this one.

Hi, Mom.

Yeah, is it as cute?

I don't know.

Welcome to church this evening, this Christmas Eve.

Thank you so much for joining us.

We hope this is a joyful part of your Christmas Eve festivities tonight.

Anyone have dinner plans this evening?

Great.

If you're looking for some topics of conversation, uh the government shutdown, the Trump administration, those things tend to go over well at family gatherings, uh, in my experience.

So uh welcome, thank you for joining us.

Uh I'm excited to get into and talk briefly on why we're here, what we're celebrating on Christmas Eve.

Uh, but before we do that, would you pray with me?

Holy Father, I pray that tonight would be a night where it's full of anticipation.

And we pray that you would guide our hearts to look closely at you and who you are.

This world that stood in darkness, you broke into as a light.

And Father, I pray that we would see that light this evening.

Lift that up in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So if you were with us yesterday, we're doing Sunday and Monday services.

These are back-to-back features, double headers.

And yesterday we looked at this verse in the passage that we read today, uh, which is Isaiah 9, verse 6.

Isaiah 9:6

And this evening we're going to do the same thing that we did yesterday.

We're going to look at this very same verse.

Isaiah 9, ch uh Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, which is written thousands of years before the birth of Jesus, or about a thousand years, but who's counting, before the birth of Jesus.

Isaiah 9:6

And it promises this.

It says, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

And this evening we're going to be looking at just this small phrase in this passage, which says, For to us a child is born, and to us a son is given.

That's what we're talking about on Christmas.

That's what we're here to celebrate.

The child who was born who is Jesus, the son who is given, who is Jesus.

And we're going to look at just three parts of this phrase.

We're going to look at the for, what does the word for mean?

We're going to look at that second phrase, which says, to us, a child is born.

And then we're going to look at that final phrase, which is, to us, a son is given.

So in order to understand it, we have to see the for.

The classic Bible study trick is when you see a word like for, you ask, what's the for therefore?

It also works for the word therefore.

What's the therefore, therefore?

And uh that uh is a great way of unlocking the passage to see what it's really talking about.

And in this section, it's referring to what came just before it, which says this says, You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy, they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod for his oppressor, you have broken, as on the day of Midian.

For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult, and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.

See, how does that connection work?

It's this description of this incredible joy of a nation.

The way that this is, the way that this is actually a poem, and the way that it's broken down is the beginning, it starts with these sort of vague descriptions of there will be light in the darkness on a people who dwelt in great darkness, a light has shone.

And then it describes in more particular ways that there's this joy that's moving through a nation that is growing and thriving, a joy that they could be experiencing.

And why are they experiencing it?

It's because the oppression has been thrown off.

The yoke of his burden, the staff for his shoulder, these will be destroyed.

These will be broken.

So, how does this joy take place?

You see, what's being described here is real oppression.

What's being written to with these people, the promise that they're receiving that Isaiah is reminding them of, it's written to people who are living as captives.

They are captives in a country that isn't their own.

Their homeland is occupied, and they're living as oppressed peoples.

And then Isaiah is announcing this news that that oppression is going to be broken.

Just as God has broken that oppression before, it's going to be broken now.

And that oppression is a little difficult for us to wrap our heads around, right?

Many of us don't live in an occupied nation.

Raise your hand if you do.

I don't think so.

Occupy your Wall Street doesn't count.

I don't know why this has been so political.

The, but there's a uh, but this oppression is real.

And the oppression that he's talking about is something that infects us and has taken over our very hearts.

I promise you, it's an oppression that you really know.

Consider all those things that rob your joy on Christmas.

What are those things that take away from the fun you should be experiencing on Christmas?

Those things that make the family conversations awkward, those wounds that have gone unaddressed, that pride that seeps into your heart that allows you to not participate, not really enjoy, not have a good time.

Why the holidays are so dreadful for so many people?

That oppression is real.

And it really does live in our hearts.

It's an oppression of the sin in the world that rules over us.

And this verse is saying that oppression will be broken.

It will be broken by God so that all that evil that we experience, those things that rob us of joy and even celebrations like Christmas will be dealt with.

So that's what the four is saying.

The four is answering, well, how will that be broken?

How will that oppression cease?

And the answer is, for to us a child is born.

And you should be thinking, well, how can that answer the question?

The verse before said this crazy thing that, like, there's warriors' clothing that's now being taken off and just burned because we don't need the clothes of war anymore.

And that's because of a child who is born?

The juxtaposition is really strange.

It shouldn't be that something so simple is what all of our hope is in, and yet that is the way the Bible frames it.

And we have to remember what's being spoken of here to the audience who would have originally read this, they're hearing it good.

A child is born, and that means there's a promise of a new king who is coming.

God made a promise to a particular king named David, and he told David, Your throne will last forever.

But at this particular moment, they were not experiencing David on the throne.

No one from the line of David was on the throne.

They were occupied.

And so what he's saying is, I promise you that a child will be born, and so the throne will be held again, and a good king is coming again.

Now here's what that means: it means that the promise that God's people broke to God, which is that they would be his people, God remembered his side of the promise.

And despite their ignoring him, God said, I remember my promise to you.

And my promise to you is that you will be my people.

And so, although you deserve to be occupied as you are, this will not be the end of the story.

You will be freed from the occupation that you feel, and you will see this because a child will be born.

A son will be given.

That is the final phrase that we have to look at.

To us, a child is born, to us, a son is given.

You know, we know that ultimately the child who is born to rule on the throne is Jesus, to reclaim all the oppression that has infected the world.

That's what we're celebrating tonight.

But then this second phrase, I don't think the original hearers could have even grasped in the way that we know it.

Because it says, To us, a son is given.

See, on Christmas, we celebrate this first part of the story, which is that a child is born.

How amazing that God would become a man to dwell among us.

But how much more amazing that God would give his son.

What does it mean that the son would be given?

It means that this sin and corruption, which we've rebelled against God with, that deserves the punishment of death, God would give his son, the only right offering, the only one who could bear the sin and death of the world.

A son is completely and utterly given.

And that's what we celebrate today.

That this oppression can be thrown off, that the promise that God made to us lasts far beyond our inadequacy towards Him.

And that's what we see today in this verse.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.

You see, God looks at us, God looks at you, and he sees you completely as you are, full of sin and corruption.

Uh do any of you guys watch Netflix?

Woo! Netflix.

Uh it's a great website.

It's got some of my favorite movies on there.

And uh upcoming on December 31st, a uh great new special is going to air starring Taylor Swift.

Woo!

But this has nothing to do with that.

While we wait for that, we don't have to wait alone because the Bruce Springsteen special has already come out.

Right, which is good news.

If I lost you at first, I've got your back.

And we uh in this special, uh, the boss, right?

I mean Springsteen, he's uh discussing what it how he's learned to experience and feel love.

And he says it's the hardest thing in the world because I don't even want to know my real self.

I don't want to know who I really am, let alone show somebody else who I really am.

Now look, if that's true of Bruce Springsteen, it's true of you.

The hardest thing in the world to do is to let yourself be known really, really, with all the garbage, all the selfishness, all the things that rob you of that joy that you would experience on Christmas.

To let someone see that feels like obvious rejection.

And yet, today, on Christmas Eve, we remember that a son was given by God who knows who we really are.

You know, we're gonna give a lot of gifts.

And a lot of times the way that we experience a gift can be kind of petty.

And I was shopping yesterday with a bunch of people, and we're just sort of checking people off of lists.

Uh, one of the best gifts that I've received in my life was an education.

I'm just kidding.

It just feels like what you're supposed to say.

In in 2008, um 10 years ago now, uh my my family was living really well, and then in 2008 during the recession, we we lost pretty much all of our money.

And uh we had deeply identified with it.

And so when it went, we were really afraid.

And personally, I was really afraid.

I had expected that I would move into the family business, and there no longer was a family business.

And earlier that year, uh Steve Jobs had announced a device that was both an uh internet machine and a phone and an iPod, and it was all in one, and it was called the iPhone.

And all my friends were getting them.

And I knew that we just couldn't afford that type of thing anymore.

You know, it just wasn't a part of life.

Don't pity the kid who can't get an iPhone, all right?

This isn't what this is about.

But uh for my birthday that year, and look, I just knew we couldn't afford it.

I didn't ask for anything.

Uh my dad gave me a little box and I opened it and it was an iPhone.

And uh still the the picture that I have of my family in my phone when they call is from that day.

And everyone in their picture, everyone in my family in my pictures, when they call, they all look terrible because we all looked so ragged from this time in our family's history.

And that was a little cost.

And it meant that I was deeply loved.

Look, I have a son now.

I can't imagine giving him up for anything.

To us, to you.

A son is given.

What does that tell you about God's love for you?

See, if you hear that, if you really hear that, if you get that, if you get what that gift means, about who God is, about what your life is, about who you are, your heart will be utterly transformed.

Consider.

Today, to us, a son is given.

Consider what that means.

Lastly, the fact that God gave us his son on Christmas.

It doesn't just show us what God thinks about us, but it shows us what God thinks about the whole world.

Now, I know that there's people in this room who have checked out, who have given in to this idea that the world really is meaningless, that it really is hopeless.

But I want you to consider what would it mean if God really gave his son to redeem it?

There's only one book that I've ever actually that's not true.

There's two books.

There's two books that I've finished and then I I immediately wanted to start again.

Uh the first one was Into the Wild by John Krakower, and that's because I was at a young, impressionable age, and running away sounded cool.

The second was a book by Cormac McCarthy called The Road.

And there's a lot of spoilers in this, but spoilers don't count if it's on Oprah's book club.

You should have read it by now.

And the book is about a father and a son who are making this journey, and it's this terrible post-apocalyptic wasteland.

The whole book just grates on your nerves because they can't get food and they're being tracked by these other people, and they're moving through this horrible place called Appalachia, and they uh uh finally get to the end, and the sun is the sun is is saved, and he's finally able to make it, and there's this hopeful vision.

And then the last paragraph of this book, this is my favorite paragraph, okay?

So this is like, you know, when a friend shows you a YouTube video and it's like the most vulnerable thing you can do, because that you're like watching your friend watch this thing that you really care about, and there's all this pressure on them to really like it.

That's what's about to happen right now to all of us as a group.

Here's this thing that I really like, so please act like you like it.

This is this final paragraph of this terrible post-apocalyptic wasteland book, all right?

It's beautiful.

Says, Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains.

You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow.

They smelled of moss in your hand, polished and muscular and torsional.

On the backs, on their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world and its becoming, maps and mazes of a thing which could not be put back, not be made right again.

In the deep glens where they lived, all things were older than man, and they hummed of mystery.

Now I was reading some responses to that last paragraph, which is this beautiful picture of a way things once were.

And one of the interpretations that I read, someone said, Some people like to read this as hopeful.

As though what the author's doing is saying, look, there finally can be hope.

You know, the way that things once were, it could be that again.

Maybe the story could end well.

And then the and then the writer who was commenting on it said, I think that's a Christianly cop-out.

And what they mean is that that's like the way that Christians cop out about the story of the world.

They aren't willing to come face to face with how bad things really are.

Here's what I want us to be this Christmas.

I want us to be the type of people who are willing to see that the good news, that the world can be redeemed, that our sins can be paid for, that we and this project might be saved is not a cop-out.

It's true.

It's true because on Christmas, a son was, a child was born, and a son was given to us.

So with that, let's celebrate together.

Let's celebrate this amazing, incredibly, unthinkably costly gift, which has made us heirs of the world.

So with that, let's pray.

Holy Father, I pray that on our hearts would settle in this reality that you are our true king.

But you're better than any earthly king who sends out troops to die for them because you died for us, your enemies, that we might be brought in.

Father, would this Christmas be about that?

And would our joy in that fact create a Christmas that really is full of joy?

Father, we lift this up in Jesus' name.

Amen.