A Song of the Angels - Clairlea Park Presbyterian



The Song of the AngelsLuke 2.1-20A sermon preached by Dr. Kevin Livingston at Clairlea Park Presbyterian Church, ScarboroughDecember 24, 2019A baby was born and the heavens rang out with the music of angels. A baby was born and the history of the world was forever changed. A baby was born and the voices of the prophets from centuries gone by echoed through the universe. A baby was born and the great enemy of God knew that he would soon be crushed. All because of the birth of a baby.It's amazing to me to watch the impact that babies have on people. Have you ever noticed that? Of course you have. I’m watching it in happen right now with our new grandson Eli in our home for Christmas! The presence of a baby does amazing things to adults. Take a group of normally sober-minded adults, put them in a room and introduce into that setting a gurgling, bright-eyed little baby and watch what happens. The expressions on their faces change. Their eyes light up, and big, toothy smiles begin to emerge. And some of them even begin talking to the baby in a pitch you’ve never heard them use before… “Aren’t you beautiful, you sweet little baby!...” Tonight we are celebrating the fact that God took the world by surprise by coming to us as a baby. But truth be told, the world didn't take much notice. It took the angels of heaven to announce the significance of this birth. The rulers of the world barely turned their heads, at least at first. Luke shows us that here in the way he frames this familiar story.We’re so accustomed to it that we tend to automatically read into the birth of this baby what we know about who he really was. But as Luke initially presents it to us, it wasn't all that spectacular. In fact the circumstances were pitiful. A poor, scared couple from an insignificant town giving birth to their first child in the midst of difficult circumstances while they’re on the road. I can't help but think that Mary and Joseph understood the miracle, at least to some degree. After all, they'd been living with it for nine months. But listen again to how common the birth sounds as Luke relates it to us: “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”How significant that Mary apparently wrapped up her new baby all by herself. It speaks of how lonely this birth was. There were no midwives, no extended family members around to help. Mary and Joseph brought their son into the world alone. No one really noticed. It was no big deal. It happens all the time.Of course there were many people in Israel who were expecting Messiah to come. This was part of the faith of the Jewish people. And many faithful Hebrews longed for Messiah’s coming, but there had been so many false alarms. The expectation and hope of a Messiah was ingrained in them from their earliest days. They were looking for his coming. But it was the way he came that threw them off.Remember what they were hoping for. They were tired of being political pawns in the hands of the Roman government. They were tired of being dragged into captivity and slavery by stronger neighbors. They were sick of being crushed under foot by malicious dictators. All of that kept alive their hope for a Messiah, a Saviour, a Redeemer, a King.So they tended to focus on the prophetic words about a revolutionary deliverer, rather than a suffering servant. They were looking for Isaiah's messiah who would "subdue kings before him and turn them into dust with his sword."We've heard this kind of thing in the other songs of Luke's gospel during that we often read in Advent. In Zechariah's song he speaks very clearly of a Messiah who will "rescue us from our enemies and be a horn of salvation," (Luke 1:69) which speaks of strength and power. Simeon's song speaks of one who will be so revolutionary that he will cause division even among the people of Israel (Luke 2:25-35). And even Mary's song “The Magnificat” speaks of the reversal of fortunes and roles that this Messiah will accomplish. "Rulers will be brought down and the humble will be exalted. The rich will be left hungry and the poor will be filled" (Luke 1:52-53).So it's easy to see, isn't it, how they missed a baby? They were looking for a king. They wanted a political giant, a revolutionary leader, a military strong man. And isn't that how we would do it? If our mission was to change the world and accomplish the things that the prophets were predicting, wouldn't we want to do it in the strongest form possible?Luke realizes that expectation and even as he begins to tell us the story, he starts out with Caesar Augustus. By the time Caesar died, many people in the Roman Empire believed he was a god. That’s an interesting contrast, isn't it? The man believed himself to be a god intersects in time and space with the God who became a man. But who determined the direction of the world? Who changed the course of history? A Caesar? A king? A president? A general? No. A baby did. God took us by surprise. He disarmed us.Can you imagine the scene that must have taken place in heaven on the eve of Christ's birth in Bethlehem, this very moment we celebrate tonight? God is omniscient, he knows everything, but the angels didn’t, of course. And the Bible tells us that there are aspects of salvation which the angels do not understand but "long to look into" (I Peter 1:12). I can imagine, therefore, that something like rumours of the Son of God’s descent to earth had been circulating around heaven and that for some incalculable time the angels had been contemplating the form in which Christ the Messiah, God’s Son, would enter human history. Would he appear in a blaze of light bursting into the night of the Palestinian countryside, dazzling all who beheld Him? Perhaps he would appear as a mighty general marching into pagan Rome like Caesar did when he crossed the Rubicon with his might army. Perhaps he would come as the wisest of the Greek philosophers putting the wisdom of Plato and Socrates to foolishness with a supernatural display of intellectual power. But what is this story Luke tells us? There’s no display of glory, no pomp, no sound of marching feet of the heavenly legions! Instead Christ lays His robes aside, the glory which was His from all eternity. He steps down from the heavenly throne and becomes a baby in the arms of a simple peasant mother in a dusty, far-eastern colony of the Roman Empire. At this display of divine condescension the angels are amazed; and they burst into such a crescendo of song that even the shepherds hear them on the hills of Bethlehem.I’m reminded here of one of my favourite poems “That Holy Thing” written by George MacDonald, the 19th century Scottish preacher and fantasy writer who had such a profound influence on C.S. Lewis. THEY all were looking for a kingTo slay their foes and lift them high:Thou cam'st, a little baby thingThat made a woman cry.On this night of all nights, we encounter the mystery of all mysteries: we bow down in worship before the incarnation of Almighty God into human flesh, God becoming man, and all this for love’s sake. It takes my breath away. Just when we expected a conquering king, he came to us as a vulnerable, poor little baby boy. Have we learned this spiritual lesson? When you're dealing with God, very often you don't get what you would’ve expected. God is a God of surprises. We usually suppose that if God really decided to fix things and act in this world, it would happen decisively, definitively, even harshly. We listen for a song of conquering courage. We listen for a song of revolution. And that's why so often we miss the song of God's coming. Because very often, like on this night, God comes not with a song of judgment, but with a song of gracious love.There was scarcely a tremor in the movement of the world when he came. Hardly anyone noticed. No human herald made the announcement, so God sent his angels to say it to the shepherds: "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. And how did he come? As a great warrior on a mighty white horse? No. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." A manger! And at that announcement, the host of heaven joined in a great doxology: Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace?to those on whom his favor rests.”The old wording of this announcement in some of our Bible translations and what you see in a lot of Christmas cards, of ‘good will toward men’, is a bad translation, and the other traditional translation of this verse about ‘men of good will’ is also mistaken. The central point of the angels’ praise as they give glory to God is that through the birth of the Messiah, God extending his favour, his blessing to people who’ve done nothing to deserve it and he graciously grants them peace. In Hebrew the word is Shalom. The word Peace in the Bible expresses how God saves us, it’s a restoration of harmony and relationship between God and sinful people. And that’s something that only God can do, because we can’t initiate or create this harmonious relationship with God ourselves. Indeed, as Paul later puts it: God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8).Peace is not assured to all people indiscriminately here, but only to those who are pleasing to God. The Roman world was experiencing the Pax Romana, the “Roman Peace” marked by external tranquility through the military power of the Roman legions. But the angels here proclaim a deeper, more lasting peace than that – a peace of mind and soul made possible by the Saviour. This peace with God is received by faith in Jesus Christ, and it’s on those who trust him that “his favor rests.”That’s the astonishing message that the angels declare to the unlikeliest of audiences that first Christmas night, the shepherds. We're so used to seeing the shepherds at the nativity that it doesn't surprise us anymore. Of course there were shepherds in that country, that's nothing. What’s something is that there were kings and governors and princes and lawyers and priests and bankers too. There were palaces and courts and decision-making conference rooms. There were big names and influential powers. But the birth of Jesus went undeclared, unannounced, and unnoticed by all of these powerful people. Instead, the angels of God proclaimed the news to shepherds. Shepherds were nobodies. They were despised and looked down upon by those above them in society. Their shady reputations were so questionable they weren't even allowed to testify in a Roman court of law. And yet these shepherds, this unexpected, despised group of people fit right into Luke's guest list of kingdom participants. What a surprise! What a strange way for God to accomplish the salvation of the world. Actually, I don't know why we should be all that surprised. Because when you're dealing with God, you almost never get what you expect. And I, for one, am very grateful for that. Friends, the good news of Christmas tonight is that God comes to you and to me not as a song of judgment, but as a song of love. God doesn’t come to you as an angry king to overthrow your life and beat you into submission. He comes in love, gently, to demonstrate to you how life can once again be full of love.Some of you here tonight, even if you’ve believed in God or attended church, have never really opened up your heart and life to God because you're afraid you'll get what you expect. You're afraid you'll get a God who will crush you or condemn you or make your life miserable. It's not particularly surprising that you may think that. A lot of people do.Later on in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells a parable about a woman who continually comes to a powerful judge and asks him for justice over and over again. She begs him. She pleads with him. And finally the judge throws up his hands in disgust and says, "I could really care less about this woman and her request but she's wearing me out with her constant pleading, so I'll give her what she wants, just to get her off my case."And Jesus, in effect, says to his disciples: "See, that's what you think God is like. You think he’s against you. You think he only gives in to your requests out of disgust and weariness. But the truth is, God isn’t like that. He’s anxious to know you and love you and bless you, if you'll receive his love openly."What this little baby of Christmas proves to us is this: if you'll receive him, God won’t crush you. God won’t condemn you. He won’t make your life miserable. God wants you to experience his unconditional love, the kind a baby gives. He wants you to experience his acceptance, the kind a baby gives. He wants to forgive you and heal you and place His spirit within you so that you can experience joy and peace in your life that you never dreamed was possible.God wanted so much for you to understand that, he risked coming to this world as a vulnerable, helpless baby. He entrusted his one and only Son to the very creatures he wanted to save.My call to you at Christmas is this: Respond to God as you would respond to a baby. Don't hold him at arms’ length and push him away. Don't be afraid of him. Embrace Christ. Receive him. Welcome him. And let him fill you with a song of love this Christmas.Let us pray: O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel! ................
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