The Angels' Song

0:00 So, as Heather was saying, this passage that we're going to read from Luke 2 this morning that contains this third song in our Christmas playlist series, the Angel Song, it is so familiar to us. Many of us have heard it, what, every single year since we've been born, and that's maybe a lot longer for some of us than others. And of course, the problem is that that over-familiarity, as Heather was alluding to, means that our brains and our hearts can almost go into some sort of sleep mode at times, can't they? If we're being honest without us even realizing it, the words are red, but there's a sense that we almost don't hear them anymore, that they just wash over us because they're so familiar. And as well as that, because this is a story often told by children, to children, that's often the way that we actually just with adults present, it is also possible that we might have allowed a sanitized and a sentimentalized version of Luke's account to build up in our minds. I'm not saying, if we can put a picture up, I'm not saying that we would necessarily see it quite so sort of smaltzy as this children's picture shows it, right? Everyone clean, everyone well-groomed, even the lambs and the camels look like they've just had a fresh frayed from the Turkish barbers. Everyone bright and smiling, symmetrical palm trees.

1:31 The odd romantic yet erroneous addition, think an angel at the manger. Will you spot that this morning? The magi there at the same time as the shepherds. And let's not even go there with a little yellow bird and a little drummer boy in the picture as well. Like I said, I'm not saying that we see things exactly like this, but I'm asking, do we actually see the story in our mind's eye the way that Luke describes it in the verses that we're about to read. Because his account is an account of realism. It's not a sentimentalized and sanitized or romanticized version. He has painstakingly drawn together eyewitness testimony to present not some sort of symbolic romantic myth, but an accurate retelling of history of this magnificent, wondrous, astonishing story.

2:29 And what I want to do this morning is very simple. I just want to make our way through Luke's account and allow the story to speak, to absolutely challenge the pictures in our mind that we may have built up those misconceptions. Yes, but more importantly, as I prayed, to invite the Holy Spirit to use this old, familiar story to speak to us in a new way, to break through minds and hearts that might be in sleep mode this morning and reawaken them, as Heather was talking about, to respond in wonder and in praise once again. So I'm just gonna go through it step by step, a few verses at a time. Let's begin with the first three verses of the chapter. In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria and everyone went to their own town to register. Now, with Stephen last week, we left Luke's account with Zechariah prophesying over his newborn son John as the one who would be the prophet of the Most High.

3:45 And we'd expect now Luke's lens to pan across to the birth of that one that is the Most High. But before he does that, he decides he's gonna give us as readers some crucial context and he zooms out and he gives us a glimpse of the world in which this is happening, which to him would have been the Roman Empire shown in this map, stretching at the time from sort of Portugal and the coast of Britain and the west across much of today's Europe and North Africa, and then across in the Middle East where little insignificant Judea sat as an outpost. The ruler of this kingdom, the ruler of this world was the emperor Caesar Augustus, perhaps regarded as the most powerful and successful ruler in the empire's history. And Luke draws his Roman citizen patron Theophilus's attention. That's who Luke was writing this account to in the first instance. And then our attention to Caesar Augustus for a very good reason. Theophilus would have been fully aware of how Augustus had been described in the past by the empire's slick propaganda machine.

5:07 a propaganda machine that reached far and wide and an example of this is an inscription in stone written in a city called Prien in what is now southwestern Turkey to commemorate the emperor's birthday back in 9 BC and it reads this the language is interesting since providence which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things. And since he, Caesar, by his appearance, excelled even our anticipations, surpassing all previous benefactors and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done. And since the birthday of the God Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings for the world that came by reason of him. That's not a bad birthday card message or birthday stone to the most powerful, most successful, most influential person in the world at the time, the savior of the world, a God, The beginning of good tidings, which is the Greek word euangelion, which is also translated as good news, or a word well known to us, gospel. Everyone in the propagandists of Roman Empire would have understood all of these terms, savior, God, good tidings, good news, all these terms and labels to refer to the great Caesar. And Luke starts here then with this zoomed out lens, first to make clear to us that what he's telling us is history. He says in those days, he doesn't say once upon a time.

7:04 But he also starts here to set up a contrast, a contrast between saviors, between gods, between kings, a contrast between kingdoms, between proclamations of good tidings, of good news, posing the question, could it be that there is greater good news, good news that surpasses that of the rule and reign of Caesar Augustus? That's what he's setting up. And so then he pans across from Rome to Judea, and his next scene zooms back in on a seemingly insignificant couple in this insignificant location, making their way at the behest of Caesar's decree from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Let's read the next few verses, verses four to seven. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn as son.

8:20 She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them. So we've changed scene. And the contrast with the wealth, with the power, with the might, with the control and influence of the emperor in Rome could not be more stark. if we just stop for a moment to contemplate, to put ourselves in the shoes of this young couple. Imagine the social stigma already experienced, the months of rumors and whispers, of cold shoulders, of worse maybe. Consider then that opportunity, however challenging already in their circumstances, to be able to give birth in a familiar surroundings with family support, wrenched away by this distant decree from Rome, forcing you into a deeply arduous journey of 80 miles of difficult and hilly terrain taking around a week to complete.

9:29 Contemplate at the end of that journey the sheer exhaustion, The anxiety, the sense of helplessness and loneliness and isolation, those messages from heaven months before, they must have felt a very, very long way off. And despite what my little picture showed at the beginning, there are no more angel visitations for the strengthening of Mary or Joseph. They don't get another visit. Notice too in Luke's account here, when we're talking about misconceptions, there's no reference to the stable that Heather mentioned, nor an innkeeper, sorry about that. And sorry too if your five-year-old child had the apocryphal part of the innkeeper this year. The only reference though is a crucial one. It's a reference to a manger.

10:33 Reference to an animal feeding trough. And rather than being located in a stable, the likelihood is in this Palestinian context that this manger was actually located in the main family living area of a two-room peasant home. And because the second room for guests, the guest room was likely already taken due to the census, Mary and Joseph would have been afforded great hospitality by being welcomed into someone else's main living space with them, Where at night, believe it or not, the animals, the few animals that that peasant family would have had, would have been brought into the home for their safety and for extra warmth for the home. So there's no stable and no in. But while we might lose those, what we don't lose are the poverty. The sheer poverty and the ignominy and the sheer harshness too of the birth of a poor peasant boy placed in an animal feeding trough. Nothing could be further from Rome's imperial palace. And then Luke pans the camera once more.

11:52 I know that's a bit anachronistic, but you get what I'm doing. And we pick up his account again in verse eight. And 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 bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people today in the town of David, A savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah or Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you.

12:33 You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. 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. Here's our song. It's a message and a song given to Bethlehem shepherds, an interesting choice of audience to say the least. Right at the bottom of the social ladder. So low in fact that their testimony wasn't admissible in a law court. Similar to women being the first witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus at the end of Luke's account, here we have, if Luke was somehow writing an elaborate fiction, a very strange choice to be the primary witnesses of the birth of the Messiah. You wouldn't choose women and you wouldn't choose shepherds if you were trying to convince a well-to-do first century Roman citizen like Theophilus, unless of course this was true eyewitness testimony.

13:55 And again, I think for some of us, our sanitized, sentimentalized picture of events in our own minds, imagine the appearance of the angels as some sort of sweet and peaceful and cherubic event, almost like an elite proms in the park. The shepherds sitting in their picnic chairs, enjoying the music. And we miss, even though it says it, and it says it clearly that they were terrified. Shepherds, hardened shepherds, the ones who took on wild animals on a regular basis in defense of their flock, were overcome, it says, by fear. Because that's what happens. when the all-powerful God of the universe draws back the veil on his kingdom and breaks through this imminent frame from heaven to earth and even for a few short moments reveals through his heavenly armies. That's what a host is, a heavenly army, even a shadow of a reflection of a glimpse of his glory. The glory of the Lord that shone around was not some gentle, romantic, fairy-like glow.

15:18 It would have been brilliant and blinding and overwhelming. Let's not lose sight of the sheer terror evoked in that moment. Hardened shepherds crumpling in fear. Let's then make our way through what the shepherds are told by the angel. And the first thing the angel says to them is, do not be afraid, or in the ESV it's translated as, fear not behold. Fear not behold. Yes, we are terrifying, they say. But listen, God's message to you is not.

15:55 He has pulled back the veil on heaven and has chosen to announce to you, lowly shepherds, good news of great joy for all people. Good news, gospel, euangelion, that same word used in that pre-en inscription about Caesar Augusta. Theophilus and other early hearers of Luke's gospel would have immediately made the connection, the subversiveness, the scandal of this good news that the heavenly army of angels are celebrating here. But the first thing, fear not. And I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Caesar's kingdom rule and reign was founded on fear. On the terror of the consequences of stepping out of line. This alternative good news, this alternative kingdom proclamation, that's what's happening here of the angels, is genuine because it's a proclamation offering the dispelling of fear and the bringing of joy.

17:11 The dispelling of fear and the ushering in of joy. Good news that will cause great joy. And then the angel goes on, today in the town of David, this alternative good news, kingdom proclamation as Heather was talking about a while back there, was a fulfillment of that 700-year-old prophecy of Micah, the one that foretells a shepherd, ruler, Savior coming out of little insignificant Bethlehem. And Luke wants us to see the irony of it. He wants us to see how this prophecy has come to be fulfilled, that the true Savior King of the world has come to be born in Bethlehem. How? As a result of the decree of Caesar Augustus.

18:07 Otherwise it would have been a Nazareth birth. What a demonstration. When it doesn't seem like it at all of who really is in control of history. A savior has been born, the angel goes on, who is Christ the Lord. This alternative good news subversively proclaims an even better savior. It's this peasant child in the manger in Bethlehem, the angel says, not Caesar in his imperial palace in Rome, who is the true savior of the world. It is his birth, not Caesar's, that changes everything. in history.

18:58 He is the true Savior because of who he is. Christ the Lord, the Messiah, the Lord God's promised anointed one, promised Messiah, the one who Israel has been waiting for through centuries of darkness and silence. But not only that, he's the Lord. He's Kyrios, the Greek translation of Yahweh, the personal covenant-keeping, saving name of God. He's the true Savior because he's the Lord's anointed one and he's the Lord himself. He is God himself come down into the lowliest, most despised of circumstances. He is God wrapped in flesh wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

20:01 It is the greatest of mysteries. And in entering the world in this way, he proclaims a pattern for his alternative upside-down kingdom, good news of salvation for the poor, for the despised, for the rejected, for the outsider, for the defeated, the fearful, the lonely, the broken. a savior who will save his people at their very core from their sin and bring about what they truly need which is reconciliation with their father God. Only he, the God man, can do this. And then the whole heavenly regiment breaks out into chorus glory to God in the highest heaven. This is good news that glorifies God, and it glorifies him because it reveals his sovereignty.

21:00 Caesar, as I've said, might appear to be in control, but the reality is that it is the creator God who is sovereign, and he has glorified himself by sending his savior son and fulfilling his promise to his people. This is a God who keeps his promises. It also glorifies him because it reveals nothing of his character. He's a God of love, who makes himself nothing for the sake of his people. Think Philippians too. He's a God of grace, mysteriously willing to stoop down and step into our story to redeem us, step into our deepest darkness to lead us in the light. join us in our brokenness to bring us healing and forgiveness.

22:00 And then the last thing these angels say is, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. This alternative good news, this alternative euangelion is truly good news because it offers peace to all those who will accept it. Caesar Augustus offered a certain type of peace. He was famous for establishing what was called the Pax Romana, a political peace built upon his military power. But however much political peace he achieved, and there's much to question even about that claim, there was a kind of peace that he was powerless to provide. Articulated by the first century philosopher Epictetus when he says this, while the emperor may give peace from war on land and sea, he is unable to give peace from passion, grief and envy. He cannot give peace of heart, for which man yearns for more than even outward peace.

23:13 We've prayed for peace from conflict across our world. But even if there were the best politicians and the greatest, most insightful settlements and we had a world at peace, our hearts would not be. Because there's only one saviour, Christ the Lord, who can invite us into experiencing that peace at the very deepest heart level. Peace in knowing that we're forgiven and accepted. Peace in knowing that God is for us and not against us. Peace in knowing that neither death nor life or angels or demons or the present or the future or any powers or height or depth or anything else in all creation

24:07 will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in who? Christ, the Lord, our Savior. Peace from striving. Peace from being driven by fear. Being overcome by the fear of illness or death. Peace from trying to save ourselves. Peace in knowing and trusting God as Abba Father. peace and resting in our identity

24:43 in him as his beloved child from knowing that complete love and acceptance we have in Christ. That only comes through this baby in a manger. That leads us to our final verses. Verses 15 to 20. And they say this, When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

25:22 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen which were just as they had been told. As we finish then this part of the story, These final verses give us great models as to how we should respond to this good news of a savior, Christ the Lord. With the shepherds, it's pretty straightforward. It's just pure, simple, unadulterated, unfiltered praise and rejoicing. You can imagine them, no airs or graces or manners or self-awareness, Just exuberant, jubilant excitement that they had found this savior in a manger just as the angel had told them and that the God of heaven had somehow chosen them. These lowly shepherds to reveal this, the greatest of news too.

26:48 They go on their way, praising and telling their story to anyone within earshot. You can imagine witnessing to and spreading the wonderful good news of the kingdom of God and the question facing us is an obvious one. Do we even exude this Christmas a fraction? A fraction of their exuberance, their jubilation, their excitement in our hearts, in our faces, in our interactions, in our singing, in our praising, in our telling? If not, perhaps then our focus should be on learning from Mary's example, from her response.

27:46 When we talk about finding something new in an old story, this is the line that has stood out to me in a fresh and new way this week as I've been preparing like never before. It's a beautiful line. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. I really think that this is the one, this is the one that many of us, me, Included need to really contemplate and take hold of this Christmas. Treasuring and pondering. Mary had gone through so much in these few short months. And she was about to go through much more. Much, much more.

28:43 Forced to exile to Egypt because of Herod's decree to keep her newborn son safe. raising and nurturing him in a foreign country and culture with no clear picture of the future. But Mary was a treasurer. And Mary was a ponderer. She treasured and pondered this manger in Bethlehem. Time and time again, she would mull it over and meditate on the experience that would have seemed absolutely dreadful to her the time having to put her baby in this animal feeding trough in a strange home so far from her hometown. Yet this was something, as she pondered, that turned out to be a key part of God's revelation of his purposes and promises. Another confirmation that her child was indeed the Messiah.

29:44 She treasured and she pondered that amazing reality. She treasured and pondered too the excitement and praise of those unexpected visitors, those shepherds that came to see her, the thrill of hope that their visit must have given her. And she added these experiences of God to the catalogue in her heart, filing them alongside her angelic visit, alongside Elizabeth's baby leaping in her womb whenever she visited her, alongside God's promises and favour to her in the midst of all of the daily hardship of life and over and over. In those continuing challenges and struggles, she'd take those experiences and promises and she'd ponder them. And in so doing, she'd kindle the flame of faith in her heart. She'd actively cultivate God's peace and joy and hope that was already hers. But as she pondered, she'd allow it to burn brighter in her heart.

31:08 USWITCH surveyed UK adults in 2022 and found that average screen time, on top of screen-related work, not including your screen-related work, but on top of that, was now up to five hours per day, two hours more than the previous 2020 survey. where might we fit into that survey and I'm scared to ask that question of myself that horrible screen time message that many of us get on a Monday morning might give a little bit of an indication and as I invite the band back up I'm going to invite the band back up just to finish now the question is clear to me anyway between the combination of busyness in one hand and then distraction in the other? How much space, how much capacity do we actually leave ourselves to be genuine treasurers and ponderers? And like I say, I ask myself this question as pointedly as anyone else too.

32:23 Like Mary, just have time and capacity and space to set our minds on things above. To be transformed by the renewing of our minds, treasuring and pondering. As we've talked about already, the mystery and the glory of the incarnation. The word becoming flesh and making his dwelling among us. treasuring and pondering not just this part of the story, but the whole wondrous, glorious, majestic, good news story of the Trinitarian God of love. Father, Son, Spirit, Creator, Sustainer, Covenant, Promise Keeper, Savior, treasuring and pondering the story and His kindness that He's given me. and given you within his grand narrative, treasuring and pondering his love and faithfulness up to this day in our lives, cataloguing each detail, each answered prayer, each blessing, each suffering turned for good, each day of his presence with gratitude.

33:49 Treasuring and pondering our eternal future in his kingdom as we live in this time of now and not yet. Between his first coming and his return. Kindling the flames in our heart of faith, of peace, of hope, of joy. In my experience, and I've no doubt in yours too, the people that I know of strongest faith, deepest peace, richest joy, are not those who have had the most easy and straightforward lives. In fact, it's often the opposite. Now, the people of strongest faith, deepest peace, richest joy, are like Mary, treasures and ponderers. That's the common denominator in the people that I know.

34:55 Treasures and ponderers of the wonder of God's story and treasures and ponderers of his ongoing love and grace and daily presence in their lives this Christmas. Let's maybe give ourselves the gift. create the space create the time carve out the routines this Christmas that allow us to treasure and ponder this good news of great joy and great peace let's pray together let's just take a moment where we are to consider ourselves? Are our hearts hard to this story? Are they dull to this story? Are we treasures and ponderers? Or have we filled every single waking moment with busyness or distraction?

36:19 Which leaves us no space to kindle that flame of faith, of joy, of peace. Peace and joy that is already ours in Christ. Father, thank you for this story. Thank you for your story, your story of your greatness, your sovereignty, your majesty, your great mercy, your story of your great love for us shown in you coming down, entering our world, entering our mess. because of your great love for us. May we be

37:27 treasures and ponderers of this story and then of the story you're writing in our lives too. Stopping, resting, contemplating, cataloging your mercies, your mercies that are truly new every morning, recognizing your presence with us, even in the seemingly darkest and most silent of moments. And may this treasuring and pondering kindle

38:18 fresh peace and fresh joy and fresh hope and may our faith be strengthened as your spirit works in our hearts and in our minds and assures us of our identity and our future in you in Jesus name Amen you