SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: I know that it is below zero outside.
SPEAKER_01: I know there is snow on the ground.
SPEAKER_01: But would you imagine with me for a moment the 4th of July?
SPEAKER_01: I know it's hard.
SPEAKER_01: The 4th of July.
SPEAKER_01: What happens on the 4th of July?
SPEAKER_01: Fireworks.
SPEAKER_01: I think that was a child's voice.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Fireworks happen on the 4th of July.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think that there were fireworks in Bethlehem, unless you count the angels.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that was fireworks.
SPEAKER_01: But I'd like you to imagine fireworks with me.
SPEAKER_01: And I'd like you to do a countdown with me.
SPEAKER_01: If you do a countdown, however large the countdown is, from 10, from 5, whatever, you get to 1 and 0, and the fireworks go off, and then what happens?
SPEAKER_01: Boom! And there's a whole display in the sky, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's how you can remember the Christmas story.
SPEAKER_01: You can remember Luke chapter 2 that was read for us earlier by imagining the 4th of July and fireworks.
SPEAKER_01: Like a show of hands.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you can count to four?
SPEAKER_01: Great.
SPEAKER_01: If you can count to four, then you can remember the Christmas story.
SPEAKER_01: Because Luke makes it very, very clear to us.
SPEAKER_01: He starts with three.
SPEAKER_01: He starts with three elements of timing in Luke chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: The first element of timing is Caesar, Augustus in Rome.
SPEAKER_01: Far away, far, far away from little Bethlehem is this emperor sitting on his throne deciding that he is going to issue a decree for all of his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: That decree is issued during the reign of a governor of Syria whose name is Corinius.
SPEAKER_01: There were a couple of registrations that took place in Corinius's time, and this timing is the first registration.
SPEAKER_01: What's our number?
SPEAKER_01: Three.
SPEAKER_01: Three timing events.
SPEAKER_01: First, excuse me, first is Caesar Augustus, second is Corinius, governor of Syria.
SPEAKER_01: The third one is a birth.
SPEAKER_01: But Luke starts out his chapter with three.
SPEAKER_01: During the days of Caesar Augustus, during the first registration of Carinius, the time came for a birth.
SPEAKER_01: Three timing events.
SPEAKER_01: If we count down from three, we get to two, right?
SPEAKER_01: Three goes to two, and there are two angelic events.
SPEAKER_01: The first is just a single angel.
SPEAKER_01: Just a single angel appears out of nowhere in the middle of the darkness to shepherds who are keeping their flocks by night.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a fascinating way that Luke describes this.
SPEAKER_01: He uses this term that says this idea of guarding.
SPEAKER_01: So there are shepherds out in the fields at night guarding their sheep.
SPEAKER_01: They are guards who are guarding their sheep.
SPEAKER_01: And then in the play on words, Luke describes their fear by saying, they were fearful ones with great fear.
SPEAKER_01: The guards are afraid.
SPEAKER_01: Why are the guards afraid?
SPEAKER_01: Because of one angel.
SPEAKER_01: And on the night in which a birth happened, an angel appeared.
SPEAKER_01: And he scared the guards to death.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember another event that was like that?
SPEAKER_01: Because I do.
SPEAKER_01: There was another event that was like that, and it happened not in a field outside of Bethlehem, but in a tomb outside of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: An angel appeared, and men were scared to death.
SPEAKER_01: One angel.
SPEAKER_01: One angel, that angel said to those shepherds, Don't be afraid, for I bring you good news of great joy.
SPEAKER_01: Their great fear is to be overshadowed by this great joy that will be for all the people.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about that all the people tomorrow morning.
SPEAKER_01: For unto you is born today.
SPEAKER_01: There's our timing element, our third timing element, today is born.
SPEAKER_01: For you, the city of David.
SPEAKER_01: The Savior.
SPEAKER_01: So we go from three to two.
SPEAKER_01: The two is two angelic appearances.
SPEAKER_01: The first is this singular angel out of nowhere in the middle of the darkness in a field outside of Bethlehem, scaring these shepherds.
SPEAKER_01: And then if that's not enough, God says, I'm going to send an entire army of angels.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if they weren't dead the first time, they're certainly going to be very close with the second angelic event.
SPEAKER_01: Out of nowhere, Luke says, there's an entire army of angels.
SPEAKER_01: An entire army making this statement.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a command.
SPEAKER_01: It's not an urgent message to go and do something.
SPEAKER_01: It's just a declaration.
SPEAKER_01: It's as if there was this sign, this giant sign in the heavens.
SPEAKER_01: Glory belongs to God in the highest, and peace is therefore on the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Three.
SPEAKER_01: Two.
SPEAKER_01: One.
SPEAKER_01: The last thing that Luke leads us to is an acknowledgement of what was heard.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said, Let's go over to Bethlehem and see this thing.
SPEAKER_01: Except the thing is Luke says is a word.
SPEAKER_01: It's like an announcement.
SPEAKER_01: But that word suddenly becomes our fireworks exploding in the sky.
SPEAKER_01: Because I asked you, how many of you could count to four?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Three, two, one, four.
SPEAKER_01: Backwards, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's how you can remember Luke, too.
SPEAKER_01: It's backwards.
SPEAKER_01: Because Luke doesn't so much want us to remember Caesar Augustus, that emperor sitting on his marble throne in Rome.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't want us to remember Governor Corinius in Syria.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't want us to so much remember the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem when Mary is in labor.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't want us to remember even so much the night that the child was born.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to remember these four things that happen at the end because that's the fireworks exploding.
SPEAKER_01: What are those four things that he wants us to remember?
SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad you asked.
SPEAKER_01: The shepherds went with haste.
SPEAKER_01: What does haste mean?
SPEAKER_01: Haste means you don't take time to make sure that your suit is all ready to go and all dressed fine before you get in the car and head to church.
SPEAKER_01: Haste means you don't care.
SPEAKER_01: You just go and you go quickly.
SPEAKER_01: See what Luke wants us to notice is not all of the things that led up to this point.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to notice and to remember what happened when the announcement was heard.
SPEAKER_01: What's the reaction going to be?
SPEAKER_01: What's the response going to be?
SPEAKER_01: And the shepherds had a commitment to this word that God gave them.
SPEAKER_01: Their commitment is seen and they went now.
SPEAKER_01: They went hurriedly.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not all.
SPEAKER_01: That's one thing.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing is that they spoke of the word.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine having given birth and your family is there surrounding you, and you have this newborn baby in your room, and everybody's ooing and awing, and everybody's having a good time together, and all of a sudden these stinky shepherds poke their heads in the door?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's probably what happened.
SPEAKER_01: These shepherds appear out of nowhere.
SPEAKER_01: And Mary and Joseph are sort of, who are you?
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing here?
SPEAKER_01: They made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
SPEAKER_01: You see, they started to speak of this child.
SPEAKER_01: They had this word given to them, this announcement given to them.
SPEAKER_01: They were committed to it, and so they hurried off to see what happened.
SPEAKER_01: And then they began to communicate about it.
SPEAKER_01: And not only did they communicate about it to Mary and to Joseph, who were surprised that they showed up.
SPEAKER_01: Luke goes on to tell us that the word spread.
SPEAKER_01: The shepherds kept on talking about it.
SPEAKER_01: They circulated this word around the community, and pretty soon all of Bethlehem is amazed at what these shepherds are saying.
SPEAKER_01: They were committed to the word, they communicated the word, they circulated the word.
SPEAKER_01: And lastly, the fourth thing is Mary treasured up all these words.
SPEAKER_01: Three, two, one.
SPEAKER_01: What happens when the countdown ends?
SPEAKER_01: It explodes into four responses.
SPEAKER_01: And the last one is that Mary heard all of these things from these shepherds, and probably from people that were coming in from the community saying, Did you did you hear what those shepherds said?
SPEAKER_01: Anyone else see those angels?
SPEAKER_01: And Mary treasures them up and continues to consider them, ponders them in her heart.
SPEAKER_01: So Luke lays out these three timing events and these two angelic events to get to the responses to the announcement of the angels.
SPEAKER_01: And Luke's point is not so much what happened.
SPEAKER_01: It's not so much what happened in Rome or what happened in Syria.
SPEAKER_01: It's not so much the governmental things that took place in the area.
SPEAKER_01: It's not so much even the birth that happened.
SPEAKER_01: Luke's point is what are you going to do with it?
SPEAKER_01: We're here on Christmas Eve, ready to celebrate the birth of the Savior.
SPEAKER_01: My friends, you've heard the word.
SPEAKER_01: What will you do with it?
SPEAKER_01: That is Luke's question in the Christmas story.
SPEAKER_01: He does this countdown to explode this idea of people responding to this announcement.
SPEAKER_01: Will you be committed to it?
SPEAKER_01: Will you communicate it to others?
SPEAKER_01: Will you make sure that it circulates throughout your community?
SPEAKER_01: Will you take these words, this announcement that Christ the Savior is born and hide it in your heart and ponder it?
SPEAKER_01: Bring it back again and think about it to understand this is what it means.
SPEAKER_01: There's glory in the highest.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's glory in the highest, there is now peace on earth.
SPEAKER_01: Interestingly, those words are echoed one more time in Luke's gospel.
SPEAKER_01: When this child who is born is riding on a donkey down into the city of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: And he's riding down into the city of Jerusalem to bring peace on earth through his death.
SPEAKER_01: Will you believe in him tonight?
SPEAKER_01: Will you receive him as your own?
SPEAKER_01: Will you make a commitment to follow him?
SPEAKER_01: Will you make a commitment to tell others?
SPEAKER_01: To keep on telling so that the word keeps going.
SPEAKER_01: And by not letting this word, this announcement of this birth out of your heart, your soul, and your mind.
SPEAKER_01: That's the Christmas story.
SPEAKER_01: Three, two, one, four.
SPEAKER_01: If you can remember that, you can remember the Christmas story.
SPEAKER_01: And since it doesn't make sense to go from one to four, you can then understand Luke doesn't want us to so much remember the story as he wants us to take the story with us and do something about it.
SPEAKER_01: What will you do tonight?
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.