Sermon Cloud

Christmas EVE 2006

Media- He Came

Welcome- Stephen Black-explain advent readings

Advent readings:

Dan and Kelli (?)

Carol- (with Kids?)

Bob- As we light theChrist Candle (uh, Lamp) this morning, let’s pray together:

God of power andmight,

In this bleakmidwinter

We humbly offer ourpraise to you.

The coming of yourSon

Breaks our night

Like the coming ofthe dawn.

This sun ofrighteousness

Warms our faith

And stokes our hope

That one day yourkingdom

Will fully come in grace andtruth.  Amen.

SING- Carol-

Bob- pray

Message- Bob

It’s my contention thatChristmas is the most offensive holiday of all. Every year, the newspapers/tvnews get filled with stories on the Holiday Wars. What are some of thethings that people get so uptight about this time of year?

See, aside from all thestupidity of arguing over Holiday greetings and semantics, I think Christmas ISinherently offensive…

If you went to ChristianSchool more than 20 years ago, or if you’ve watched a Charlie Brown Christmas,you may have the Christmas story etched into your mind in good King JamesEnglish. It goes something like this: “And there were in the same countryshepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And,lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone roundabout them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not:for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to allpeople. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which isChrist the Lord.”

“Good tidings of great joy.”A more modern translation reads

VS Luke 2:8-11

“Good news that will bringgreat joy.” Good news… a Savior.

You’ve probably been hearingthat so long, so often, that it’s offensiveness might not be immediately clear. But here’s why Ithink Christmas is inherently the most offensive of all holidays: Christmas tells us that what is wrong in our livescannot be fixed without help from God. It’sa holiday that is inherently about our weakness…. And God’s strength.

And for many people- this isnot “Good News.” In fact, it’sawful news. It’s downright offensive! What do you mean that what’s wrong in mylife cannot be fixed without help from God??? Offensive. But then again… What is most offensive isoften what we most need to hear.

Inthe Old Testament, there was a group of people whose job it was, in fact, totell people some of the things they didn’t want to hear. They were calledprophets-, and their job was to speak to the people for God. They would come and tell the people- stopworshiping idols! Start worshiping God again- put God first in your hearts andminds! They would tell the people- stop taking advantage of each other, stopmistreating the poor and widows and aliens among you- take care of each otherand take care of those who can’t care for themselves. And their reward for this“service” to the nation?

Most were killed- throwninto pits, stoned, sawn in half… the people did not want to hear what they hadto say and went to great lengths to quiet them…

The prophet often foundhimself or herself standing againstthe people, a confronting presence.

There’sanother group of people in the OT who were less confrontational, more comforting… the Priests. If it was the job of the prophet tospeak to the people for God, it was the job of the priest to speak to God forthe people. It was the priest who would bear the sins of the people and makesacrifices for them, the priest who would stand in front of the altar and prayfor the people, and light the incense to represent the prayers of the wholenation rising to God. The priest was the one who was there for the people,performing the weddings, the burials, the prayers for the sick, the offerings,the feasts… The prophet only needed to come down from the mountain or in fromthe wilderness when he got a message from God. The priest lived with the people, stood with them, a constant reassuring presence.

Anyoneelse waste 2 hours of your life watching “Taladega Nights: The Ballad of RickyBobby”? If you haven’t seen it, don’t worry- you didn’t miss a whole lot. Itwas funny, but… well, like I say, you didn’t miss a whole lot. But there isthis one scene where the family is sitting down to dinner and Ricky Bobby issaying grace. “Dear Lord Baby Jesus, ” he starts praying. And throughout theprayer it’s Baby Jesus this and Infant Jesus that… until his wife stops him andsays “You know- Jesus did grow up.”

And he says, “I like the ChristmasJesus best, and I’m saying grace,so…” And that leads to the whole family discussing how they like to pictureJesus- as a cuddly infant, as a ninja fighting evil, or as a guy wearing atuxedo t-shirt because that kind of says “I’m formal, but I like to party too.”

So… far be it from me todraw theological lessons from Ricky Bobby… and no, Jesus is not a ninja, and Heemphatically does not weara tuxedo t-shirt…

But it’s not entirelywrong to speak of Jesus in different ways, to recognize different roles in Hislife.

Forinstance- Jesus does fulfill therole of prophet… This was the prophecy that Moses, as he was preparing to die,gave to the people about Jesus (VS Deut 18:15): “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophetlike me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.”

The people of Jesus’ timeconsidered Him a prophet-

Let me read: VS Luke7:11-17

And Jesus acted like an OT prophet- He told the people things theydidn’t necessarily want to hear- like in Luke 4 when they loved his sermonabout the poor and needy and God’s favor and blessing being proclaimed- butthen Jesus took it one step too far- He said: VS Luke 4:24-30

Jesus had told themsomething they couldn’t bear to hear- that God was about to move from blessingIsrael, to blessing the whole world. And like in the OT when they didn’t like aprophet’s message, they tried to kill him. When I read the Gospels, I see Jesusspeaking to the people for God, confronting them, pleading with them, cryingover them, urging them to change, to turn around.

All the things that OTprophets did, Jesus did. In fact, you could say that all the OT Prophets,pointed to Jesus- that they were the types and He the fulfillment...

Same thing with the priests-in fact, God said to one priest in the OT VS Zech 3:8- “Listen to me, O Jeshua the high priest, and allyou other priests. You are symbols of things to come. Soon I am going to bringmy servant, the Branch.” This priest was a symbol of Jesus…

Jesus Himself, though He wasfrom a different tribe than the priests came from, was called a priest. The NTbook of Hebrews says of Him “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learnedobedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as aperfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for allthose who obey him.”

Ilove that the OT prefigured Jesus as both a prophet and a priest… and that theNT presents Him as both… because we need a prophet, and we need a priest.

We need a prophet- because like the people in the OT, we areso prone to wander, to nearsightedness, to selfishness, to worshiping all kindsof things besides God. And Jesus comes to us and reminds us “Love God with allyour heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Weput ourselves before all others and Jesus tells us “Deny yourself- take up yourcross and follow me.” Jesus comes to us and tells us what God wants us to hear-He changes our economics, what we do with our cash. He changes our ethics, howwe treat one another, our sexual behavior, our thoughts and words… every areais on the table. He speaks hard words that we may not want to hear, butdesperately need to hear.

Weneed a prophet, but we also need a priest. Hard words are needed, but sometimesit’s comfort that is called for. And the same one who tells us many hard thingsalso says to us “Come to me you who are weary and burdened down and I will giveyou rest.” And like an OT priest, Jesus doesn’t just speak to us, He speaks for us-

The NT book of Hebrewsdescribed Him this way: VS Heb 2:17-18

AndI don’t know about you- but if Jesus was only one who spoke hard words to me, and never broughtcomfort in my sorrow and peace in the middle of my distress, I’m not sure howappealing He would be as a savior. But He does both…

In Christmas we find aSavior- God Himself come to rescue and renew all of creation. God Himself cometo live, to die, to rise again, to be the sacrifice for your sin and for mine.God Himself come to us as prophet and as priest, with words of confrontation and comfort. Savior, Prophet, Priest... and more.

There’sanother OT figure that Jesus fulfills, that represented Jesus- the King. Allthrough the OT, the in prophecies about Jesus, in prophecies about the MessiahHe was spoken of as the heir to the throne of David- as the King. The King whowould conquer and rule with Justice and fairness and who far from enslaving andoppressing the people, would set them free.

You probably got aChristmas card or two with this prophecy from Isaiah on it: “For a child isborn to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on hisshoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
EverlastingFather, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace
will never end. He willrule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David forall eternity.” Or this one from Micah: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, areonly a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel willcome from you, one whose origins are from the distant past. The people ofIsrael will be abandoned to their enemies until the woman in labor gives birth.Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land.And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength, in the majesty ofthe name of the Lord his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, forhe will be highly honored around the world. And he will be the source ofpeace.”

Jesus confronts us asprophet

He comforts us as priest.

And he comes to us asKing- and if it was simply a matterof ruling, I wouldn’t think thatparticularly good news- but He rules, he conquers, to set us free. Because until our allegiance moves from all the things that arekilling us and killing this world to HIM, He knows we’ll always be enslaved. SoHe comes as King, and for our own sake, He asks for our allegiance… not toenslave us, but to free us- because He knows that our allegiance given toanything other than Him will ultimately mean only harm and destruction for us…

We need Jesus as ourprophet, as our priest, and as our king. And Portland needs a community that will follow Jesus, that will embodyJesus that way as well. Portland needs a community that will speak words ofhope and of comfort, that will pray for it and love it and care for it. AndPortland needs a counter-cultural community as well, one which will liveprophetically- that is, against the status quo- and not ignore the places whereour society is going off the rails, a community that will point them to the onewho’s really in charge, the one who brings true freedom, who brings salvation-Jesus. This city needs a community like that, and frankly, I need a communitylike that too.

Andyou all are doing it- I see this community having that prophetic role in eachother’s lives- speaking truth, helping each other to hear what God is saying. Iwatch you lovingly correct and teach each other and point each other to betterways of saying things, better ways of doing things... I watch you point oneanother and others to Jesus. Keep doing it. Don’t stop.

I also see this communitytake on that priestly role in each others lives. I have never yet seen, andprobably never will again see a community so willing to bear each othersburdens, to help one another financially, emotionally, spiritually. It’s abeautiful thing to watch you care for each other, to pray for each other, tolove each other as Jesus would have us do. Please, please, please- don’t stop.

Butwhether you are part of this community or not…This coming year- will you let Jesusbe something other than a baby… will you let Jesus be your prophet? Will you let Him speak to you about your life? Willyou bend, will you change? Will you bring your life, your actions, yourthoughts, your ethics, your morals, your sexual life, your economic life, allthat you are- will you bring all that you are more and more in line with what you know to be God’sway of living- will you listen to God’s word… will you live life in the way ofJesus?

Thiscoming year will you allow Jesus to be your priest? To intercede, to speak to God on your behalf? Willyou bring Him your sins and trust that the sacrifice He makes is enough? Willyou find comfort and peace in Him rather than all the things we are so prone torun to for comfort and peace? Will you bring Him your sorrow and pain and allowHim to give healing in exchange?

And will you allow thisprophet named Jesus, this priest, this Savior… will you allow Him to be yourKing?

Read together: Is 42:1-4

Invitation toparticipate in Prayer Stations

Worship- 2 Worshipsongs or Carols…

Wrap up/

Sarah/Haiti

Announcements- Stephen

Blessing:

(Together)We praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us withevery spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ.Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ tobe holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been toadopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.And this gave him great pleasure.

(Bob) Sowe praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because webelong to his dearly loved Son. He is so rich in kindness that he purchased ourfreedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven. He has showeredhis kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding…now you also haveheard the truth, the Good News that God saves you.