Sermon

December 24, 2007
Christmas Eve
Luke 2:14
Pastor Robert Raasch

Rejoice in the Angelic Announcement!

1. Glory to God in the Highest
2. On Earth Peace
3. To Men on Whom God’s Favor Rests

Tell me, is there any portion of Scripture that is more familiar to the average person than the story of Jesus’ birth?  I mean, many of us have known these verses from Luke chapter 2 by memory since we were little kids.  Even people who have never cracked open a Bible know something about Jesus’ birth even if only by catching the nightly news and the debate whether to display a nativity scene at City Hall.  And yet, for the billions of people in the world who know something about the birth of Jesus, for all the people who have heard about the star and the shepherds, I wonder how many know exactly what it all means for our lives today.  Is this all just a really good story?  Or is it a historic event that has the power to transform people’s hearts and lives?  I mean, what does the birth of a baby 2000 years ago mean for our lives today?

Now, I realize that there are probably a hundred different answers to the question, what does the birth of Jesus mean?  Everything from it means a week off of school to it means Christmas shopping.  Actually, today we’re going to take a little more Biblical approach to the question.  We’re going to let Gods’ own messengers tell us what Christmas means.  Today we’ll look to the words of the angels on that first Christmas night as together we:

Rejoice in the Angelic Announcement!
The announcement actually comes in three parts:

1. Glory to God in the Highest
2. On Earth Peace
3. To Men on Whom God’s Favor Rests

First, the angels announced, “Glory to God in the highest.”  What does that mean?  Well, it means that right off the bat the angels wanted to give credit where credit is due.  “Glory to God,” the angels declared.  In other words, all the events surrounding the birth of this baby were orchestrated by God.  Oh sure, I’ll bet Caesar Augustus thought he was flexing his political muscles by demanding that everybody in the Mediterranean world travel back to their hometown in order to be taxed.  Maybe even Mary and Joseph thought it was the government that was forcing them to make the journey to Bethlehem while Mary was 9 months pregnant.  But it wasn’t.  This was all God’s doing.  700 years before this, God had promised that his Messiah would be born in the town of Bethlehem Ephrathah.  And now God was making good on that promise.  God was controlling the actions of the most powerful man in the world, the Roman Caesar, in order to carry out his plan to have Jesus born at just the right time, in just the right place. Glory to God in the highest! 

Couldn’t the same thing be said concerning Jesus’ birth in a lowly stable?  I’ll bet the innkeeper that night felt terrible telling Mary and Joseph that the only room he had was out in the barn.  And I expect that Mary wasn’t too thrilled about it either.  Can you imagine going into labor surrounded by a bunch of livestock?  People say that some hospital rooms smell funny!  How about a stable!?!  And yet, who was in charge?  God was.  Even though his Son deserved a royal entrance into this world, God made it clear that Jesus was coming as a substitute for sinners.  How did St Paul put it? “Though (Jesus) was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty, might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).  Who gets the credit for carrying out that master plan?  God does!  To God be the glory!  Or as the angels put is, “Glory to God in the highest”

Now does that part of the angel’s announcement have any application for our lives today?  You bet it does.  The angels’ announcement invites us to look beyond the humdrum of every day life, beyond our trials and tribulations and realize that God has a master plan.  Even if it seems like our ride is a little rough, just like Mary undoubtedly felt that her ride was a little rough as she traveled 90 miles while being 9 months pregnant, still God had a plan.  A good plan, an eternal plan—for Mary and for us.  This Christmas, be sure to give credit where credit is due.  Remember, the angels didn’t say, “Glory to good fortune, glory to friends and family, glory to Santa Claus.  They said, “Glory to God in the highest.”  And so can we.

But notice in the angels’ announcement, they not only pointed out that the Savior’s birth would bring glory to God in the highest places, they also announced that it would bring something to man here in the earthly realms.  The angels announce: “Glory to God in the highest and II. On Earth, Peace.

Boy, there’s a concept that’s often misunderstood these days.  So often Christmas is described as a time of peace and joy, a time when people should set aside their differences and nations should lay down their arms.  And yet, if you look around, you realize that ain’t happening.  Soldiers and civilians alike are dying in military conflicts around the world.  Out at the mall, people are pushing and shoving to get that last Christmas bargain.  Even within our own families, there is dissention and unrest.  This person is picking on that person, that person won’t talk to the other person.  It’s like it’s a constant war.  Peace on earth?  Yeah, right.  I wish there was peace on earth.”

But wait a minute.  What did the angels say?  On that first Christmas night, were they offering a wish?  Did they say “We wish there would be peace on earth”?  Was this a prayer they were offering to God?  “God, please let there be peace on earth”? No, friends, this was not a wish, or a hope, or a prayer.  It was an announcement, a declaration, a statement of fact.  “On earth, there is now peace!”

How could that be?  How could these angels who were speaking for God himself, announce that there was now peace on earth?”  The answer?  They could announce that there was peace on earth because they were not talking about peace between one sinner and another sinner.  They were talking about peace between all sinners and God.

You see, from the moment that Adam and Eve chose to use their freedom to rebel against God, from the moment they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—from that moment on, all mankind by nature has been at odds with God.  By nature, we’ve treated God like he is the enemy.  We’ve lied to him, we’ve refused to listen to him.  We treated his commandments like a chain that we’re constantly pulling against, kind of like a dog trying to run away from his master. 

At the same time, we’ve still longed for his approval.  We want to be on his good side, but our sins have us feeling on the outs with God.  It’s like as sinners we can’t get along with God.  But we also can’t get along without him.  And that means that by nature we are not at peace with God.  And that leaves a huge hole in our hearts.  So what did God do?  He sent someone to fill the hole, or more specifically, someone to bridge the gap between a holy God and an unholy human race.  That someone, of course, was Jesus.  The Bible says, “There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).  When God sent Jesus into this world, first to live the perfect life that you and I could never live, and secondly to endure the penalty that our sins deserved, he made peace between God and man.  There is no longer anything that separates us from God.  God says, “I have nothing against you.  You are no longer my enemy.  You are my friend.  We are at peace!”

My friends, that’s the announcement that the angels made in the skies over Bethlehem.  On earth, peace.  Tell me, does that have an effect on our lives today?  Absolutely!  For you see, deep down in my heart of hearts, there is nothing I want to know more, nothing I want to be more certain of than where I stand with God.  If I’m unsure of how God Almighty will judge me, if I don’t know what is going to happen to me when I die, then I begin to live in fear and uncertainty.  I begin to see every negative thing that comes into my life as some kind of punishment from an angry God.

On the other hand, if I realize that my standing with God is not dependent upon what I do for God, but rather 100% dependent upon what Jesus has done for me, then I begin to see everything differently.  God is not an angry judge.  He’s my friend, my confidante.  He’s already given me heaven, and he promises to use everything else in my life to serve my eternal good.  How did St. Paul put it?  “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not along with (Jesus), graciously give us all things?” That’s the assurance we have knowing we’re at peace with God.

Okay, but maybe you’re thinking, “Yeah, but how do I know that those words apply to me personally?  How do I know that God wanted my heart to be at peace?  I mean, didn’t the angels put some limits on God’s peace?  How did they put it?  “Peace to men on whom his favor rests.”  What if I’m not a man?  What if God’s favor doesn’t rest on me?  We better take a little closer look at the last part of this angelic announcement, where the angels say “On earth peace: III. To Men on Whom God’s Favor Rests.

First of all, we need to understand that in the original language the word here translated as “men” doesn’t mean “males.”  “Men” here means humans, in other words the entire human race: men, women and children.  It refers to the same group of people that Jesus speaks of when he said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.”  It is that same group of people that the angels now announce have God’s favor.  I don’t know about you, but I think this is a statement that is often easily misunderstood—especially when you think about how the old King James Version translated this verse.  Remember the words? “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, good will to men.”  I wonder how many of us just assumed that meant that at Christmas we should try to get along with each other.  We should have good will toward one another.  But that is not at all what the angels were saying.  The angels are not talking about our good will.  They’re talking about God’s good will, God’s favor.  The whole point of this passage is this:  The birth of Jesus Christ is proof that God, in an act of pure grace, now looks favorably on a world full of sinners.  Jesus’ birth proves that God is favorably disposed toward us, in spite of our sins.  God’s favor in Christ now rests on you!

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