Sermon Cloud

TEXT

Luke 2:1-14: "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.' 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!'"

STUDY

The purpose of Jesus coming into our world is simple: reconciliation.

We even sing this in our hymn "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." That hymn is speaking of the event we just read. The angels in this story are praising God in their announcement of the good news of great joy. The angels are glorifying God as they proclaim that peace will be among those with whom God is pleased.

In the song, we sing:

"Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled."

That's why Jesus came. This is the purpose of our celebrating Christmas, to praise God with the angels and glorify Him as we proclaim that same peace to those who know and love God.

The point is God and sinners reconciled. He became physical to reconcile us in His body. The passage says to bring us peace. Why do we need peace? Because peace is needed between parties who are unreconciled to one another. What this is implying is that we're in an unreconciled relationship with God and we need peace, we need to be reconciled with Him. Reconciliation means the reestablishment of a relationship between two things.

During this season, we have no problem singing songs about Jesus and even claiming He's our Savior, He's our peace. But we usually don't go beyond humming the tune to ask what it is that we're actually singing. Do we know what we're singing when we sing that Christ is our Savior? Savior from what? Or that He is our peace? Peace from what conflict?

I recently read a blog post about the famous atheist, Richard Dawkins, discussing his view of Christmas. Here is the post:

Dr. Al Mohler reports that Richard Dawkins, well-known atheist and author of The God Delusion will be singing Christmas carols this year. According to the BBC:

Prof Dawkins, who has frequently spoken out against creationism and religious fundamentalism, replied:

I'm not one of those who wants to stop Christian traditions. This is historically a Christian country. I'm a cultural Christian in the same way many of my friends call themselves cultural Jews or cultural Muslims. So, yes, I like singing carols along with everybody else. I'm not one of those who wants to purge our society of our Christian history. If there's any threat to these sorts of things, I think you will find it comes from rival religions and not from atheists.

This is shocking to me, considering Dawkins' assertion that belief in the God of the Bible is immoral. From The God Delusion:

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction. Jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic-cleanser; a misogynistic homophobic racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal....

If this is what you believe, why would you want to partake in celebrating such a God? We don't sing songs about other evil beings simply because they are part of our history. Is Dawkins simply trying to "go with the flow" and boost the image of atheists everywhere? Or does he really enjoy singing songs about the God he hates? Mohler writes:

The sight of an avowed atheist joining in the Christmas chorus is a bit hard to imagine. At the same time, there is something comforting about the idea that even the world's most famous atheist will move his lips to the songs that celebrate Christ's birth. Perhaps those words will move from his lips to his head and his heart. We should pray that it might be so.

The point is simple, we can sing songs about a Baby-King who came as our Savior and Lord and who, through His death, brings us peace and reconciliation without ever really understanding or believing any of it.

In the public sphere, the meaning of Christmas is held up as a great time of year to remind us that if we just join hands and try really hard, we can make this world a better place. That's the very point of the Live Aid song that teaches:

We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
Oh, there's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Now, there's nothing wrong with calling each of us together to work towards significantly reducing hunger and poverty. I'm all for that. But is this the point of Christmas? Is this what it's all about?

We're on the one hand incredibly voracious in our shopping during this time of year, and yet at the same time perfectly willing to say that it's all about giving to others and working for the common good. Even still, is this what it's all about? Is this why Jesus came?

Bob Dylan, after joining together with all these stars to sing in the Live Aid song, said he felt very uncomfortable singing the song. When asked why he said, "because man can not save himself."

Bob Dylan is absolutely correct. Jesus came to the world because man can not save himself. There is a problem and Jesus had to come to solve it because we can't!

Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners NEED to be reconciled. The Christmas story we're reading this morning shows us this. It shows us:

I. Our Need for Reconciliation
II. The Way of Reconciliation
III. The Results of Reconciliation

I. Our Need for Reconciliation

Why do we need to be reconciled or saved?

When we read this story we're reading about a solution to a problem. Isn't that the point of salvation, of a Savior, of reconciliation? It implies there is a problem that is being fixed when Jesus comes into this world. It seems from this story that there is much more to it than a simple proclamation of a problem fixed. We have to understand the problem to appreciate the solution.

The back-story to all of this is found in the Old Testament where we come to learn about the problem and the promised solution to that problem.

Presentability

In the Old Testament there is a consistent concern of presentability before God. We're not presentable before God because we're blemished, we're unable to approach God.

This is the entire point of the Tabernacle story. The Tabernacle was set in the center of the camp of God's people and it was where God's glory dwelled and where God's people would gather as a Priest would enter into the Tabernacle, and into the center of the Tabernacle called the Holy of Holies, this was the same with the Temple where a place was set aside and where God would allow His glory to rest.

This was where our infinite God allowed His glory to touch finite man. If you wanted to enter into the Holy of Holies you had to be cleansed and without blemish or defect. You had to be clean, your body, your clothing, and you had to bring a sacrifice with you that also had no blemishes. It, too, had to be clean and without defect. No dirt on your body, no visible skin blemishes, no flow of blood or hemorrhage, no spots or stains, no blood or anything on your clothing, and the same for the animal. You couldn't be a leper or a eunuch.

When we read all the clean laws of the Old Testament, we get really confused. We often miss the whole point of the clean laws when we get lost in the detail of them. They were numerous, but they were all designed to show us something. They were all designed to make you clean and presentable, to make you fit before God.

When you begin realize how numerous and detailed they were, you come to see that they were impossible to keep without fail. When you went out into town, when you went outside, you were subject to dead animals, unclean people, diseases, diseased people, and so on.

So why would God put all these laws into effect? They show you something profound: that we are unclean, and unable to make ourselves clean in our own efforts. We were spiritually unclean and God was showing us this through physical means. But the physical always has a spiritual truth behind it. God is showing us that we are continually getting unclean.

God is showing us that we're unholy, blemished, and really unqualified to be accepted into His presence. Simply put, we're unfit. That's the big picture to all of this.

Some of us may object to this because it sounds so old and archaic. We might even think we've evolved spiritually and therefore we don't worship a God like this. God today, is all love. Since He's all love, we can't believe in such things. But this makes the entire point of Jesus coming absolutely useless.

The angels didn't proclaim glory to man in the highest because there's no need for Jesus to be here. They didn't come with a great announcement and simply say, "as you were." They announced something. They announced good news that God had sent His Son into this world, and that He was finally here! That this baby was the Savior, the anointed One, the Lord of all creation and had broken in to secure peace with God. He came to save us, to reconcile us, to bring us peace with Himself. This was the point of the proclamation.

This God hadn't changed and Luke knew it. The point of the Old Testament rituals were showing us that we had a significant problem that required a Savior, and that we were not reconciled with God.

Even if your object still stands about God needing reconciliation, its just common sense that God has to tell us about our problem. Put the Old Testament aside for a moment and think about how we view ourselves and our relationships in our society.

Physical Presentability

From personal experience, we know what it's like to know we're not presentable. When I was a kid, I turned 14 and all of a sudden it looked like my face exploded overnight. I had really bad blemishes that were emotionally and socially devastating. Before I discovered things that could be done about it, I would literally not want to go to school because I felt like I looked horrible.

I remember skipping one of my picture days in 9th grade because I didn't want to take a picture looking the way I did. I would wake up in the morning and pray that my skin was clear so that I could be presentable to the world. If it wasn't, I would just feel a sense of shame and want to hide. I remember when we would have PE or when I played basketball and we had to have shirts and skins practice, I would always hope that I wasn't skins because I just knew I had a blemish on my back and didn't want others to see it.

It was horrific and it really messed with me as a kid. I knew others that had the same problem but in different ways. There was a kid in 8th grade that had so much body hair that his back actually looked like a giant yin/yang symbol because it swirled into a circle. He grew a full beard that looked like he snorted a cat and could probably buy beer at 13 because he looked like a lumberjack. We thought it was cool, but he simply didn't want to shower or change in the locker room because he felt socially unpresentable.

There are certain restaurants in San Diego that you couldn't simply walk into just any old way. We know which ones they are, and you wouldn't be caught dead going in without taking a shower, combing your hair, finding some clean clothing that was nice, and making sure you had enough money to pay for everything as you hope they don't find out you're really one paycheck away from losing your apartment and Pinto parked around the corner. The people that frequent these restaurants are important, have money, have power and are economically, educationally, physically, and socially presentable. That's why they get to sit in the restaurants version of the holy of holies in the middle of the room by the fireplace! We get to watch them from a distance.

We even feel this way if we're called into the office of the president of the company you work for (for me it's God, so that's another story). If you get a note on your desk that says he or she wants to come to their office at 3:00, you don't go eat spaghetti for lunch if you're wearing a white shirt, and you don't eat it with lots of garlic. What do you do at 2:45? You go to the bathroom to check your presentability before going upstairs.

But the idea of presentability with God goes much deeper than this doesn't it? It isn't just about our physical looks.

Social Presentability

When we consider our civil law, we know that the entire point of having civil law is to have peace with each other.

Human Law

Ask yourself the question, "why do we have civil/human law?"

a. What's the purpose of human law?
b. What's the content of human law?
c. What are the consequences of breaking human law?

a. What's the purpose of human law?

The purpose of human law is peace. Law allows us to live in relationships with one another in a peaceful state. It's designed for fellowship so we can be socially presentable in relationships. If there are no laws, there is no peace between us.

b. What's the content of human law?

The content is that we treat each other as no less than what we are, humans. We are not to treat each other as less than human beings. If we do, there will be no peace. Laws tell us we have to treat each other with dignity and possess intrinsic value.

c. What are the consequences of breaking human law?

What happens to us if we treat each other as less than who we are? If someone commits a serious crime against another, and they say "sorry" the judge, the jury, society, and especially the one offended says, "not good enough." A debt is still owed. You're unreconciled with society, with the community. Until the debt is paid, you're privileges of fellowship are taken away.

In other words, you're relationally unclean. If someone breaks the law and treats another human for less than what they are, they lose their relationship with society. They are put in prison, they no longer have the rights to the privileges of their citizenship until the debt is paid.

Divine Law

Now, consider divine law. What is the purpose of divine law? What do the Scriptures have to say? What is the point of it all?

The content of divine law is to treat God as no less than who He is. To love Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. He alone is utterly worthy of all our praise. He alone is worthy of the adoration of our soul.

What are the consequences of divine law? When you act as if you're accountable to only yourself, when you think only of yourself, when you act as your own Lord, your own Savior, and your own Messiah, you're treating God for less than who He is. You've broken the law.

It's not simply a matter of some abstract rules you've broken, as many assume. The essence of the law is relationship, fellowship, and social presentability before Him.

When you act as if you're the king, you're the lord of your life, and what matters is your own good news about what your plans are for your life, you can't just say "sorry." It's not good enough. Sorry doesn't cut it. Of course you should be sorry, you've treated God for less than who He is. But even if you say "sorry" and commit to never treat God this way again, it's not enough. A debt has to be paid.

Many people assume that we've evolved and now we have a God who simply accepts an apology as payment for what we've done. The verbal "I'm sorry" is enough in our thinking.

Does a good judge operate this way when a heinous crime has been committed against someone? No! Even if he wanted to, he can't just accept an apology as payment. Otherwise, he would cease to be good. The law would become utterly meaningless. And the people the law represents, would be treated as less than what they are. If the law is designed for our relationship, and the law is not upheld, then social relationships are without value because the law is without consequence.

Yet, when we refuse to believe in a God who demands payment, what we're doing is refusing to treat God with the same consideration that we demand for ourselves.

However, as much as we may owe to our family, our employer, our neighbors, our community and fellow humanity, it is nothing in comparison to what we owe God if He exists. If there is a personal, Creator God who is transcendent and to whom we owe all our life and all our worship and fellowship, then our debt is an infinite debt against Him.

This is simple, common sense.

If there is a God that created us, we owe Him a debt we can not possibly pay and still have anything left. My life could be lived a thousand times in an attempt to repay Him and it still wouldn't be enough because He's an infinite God of infinite worth and I'm only finite. We're unclean, we're unholy, we're blemished, we're unreconciled, and we need peace with Him.

II. The Way of Reconciliation

Just as Luke would have been thinking of the Old Testament when speaking about this anointed King who would have come into the world to bring reconciliation, peace, to us, so he would be thinking of how Jesus came to reconcile us.

The OT spoke of a Savior, a Messiah, a God who would come and dwell with us and this would be the way of reconciliation.

The OT not only shows us why we need to be reconciled to God, but it gives us quite a picture of how our blemishes, our uncleanness, and our lack of presentability before God is dealt with.

Leviticus is a tough read, but in it we're shown the point of all the Levitical laws and ceremonial actions.

In Leviticus 1:3-4, we're told of a male animal that was to be taken without blemish and placed on the altar. The priests were to lay hands on its head and it would be "accepted for him to make atonement for him."

Then Leviticus 16 speaks of the day of atonement, and it talks about two goats. Aaron was to lay his hands on one goat, confess all the sins of the people and then drive the goat away from fellowship with the people of God. He was to be put in relational isolation and chased out of the camp. He was to be sent away into solitude.

The other goat without blemish or defect, was to be sacrificed for the sins of the people. The priests hands would have been laid upon the goat's head and there would be a transfer of the sins of the people to the goat and the flawlessness of the goat would have been transferred to the people.

As you touched it, you made it unholy, and at the same time, its perfection was credited to you. When you laid hands on it, it represented you, and you were forgiven of your sin on account of its cleanness.

This is what it means to be a Christian. It means that Jesus Christ becomes our sacrifice and His perfection is given to us and our sins and imperfection are given to Him and He becomes our sacrifice.

Becoming a Christian is not about all the works you're to perform to impress God. You can't perform enough! You're continually getting unclean. It's not about saying you're sorry without sincerity. It's not enough, a payment is needed. Becoming a Christian is about spiritually laying your hands on Jesus and like the priest in the OT, your blemishes become His and His blemishlessness becomes yours. He gets what your sins deserve, and you get what His perfection deserves.

The Story of the Woman with a Flow of Blood

In Mark 5 there is a great story of woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. She had a flow of blood that would have made her unclean for worship. She realized that she was not only cut off from worship, she would have made others unclean who touched her. The law kept her from the relationships of others and the Temple fellowship.

She had heard about Jesus and said to herself, "if I touch even his garments, I'll be made well" (Mark 5:29). What's going on here? Why is this story here?

This woman was unclean and she couldn't find a cure. She hadn't been in the presence of God for many years and was desperate for a cure. Remember, since she was ritually unclean, if she touched someone who was clean, she would have made them unclean. Yet she wants to touch Jesus! She wants to transfer her uncleanness to Him and perhaps, perhaps His cleanness will become hers. She wanted to touch him, but she would have never come up to him in front. She would have known that any self-respecting rabbi would have rejected her because he wouldn't have wanted to become unclean by her. So she sneaks up behind him and touches his garment.

What is so interesting is that those who felt like they were clean never came after Jesus to lay their hands on Him. They thought they were already clean and didn't need him. But a woman like this, the unclean and marginalized of society, flocked to him because she knew there was no other hope for her other than grace and mercy.

The law made this woman feel unclean, but the law made the religious people feel clean. It was supposed to show everyone that we were equally unclean and we couldn't clean ourselves.

This is why Jesus essentially taught the Pharisees that the pimps and prostitutes were closer to the Kingdom of God than they were. They didn't think they needed His cleanness, His blemishlessness. They thought they were already clean by their own actions.

A Test for Pharisees

Are there any of you here this morning that when hearing that we're unclean, unfit, unholy, and unpresentable before God because we're blemished, have become bothered? Does this teaching bother you? Do you say to yourself that you're pretty good, you're not that bad, you're fine, and you don't like this entire teaching?

Jesus would say that you're far from the Kingdom of God.

If there is anyone here this morning that is saying, "I know I'm unfit and unworthy to be in God's presence. I feel far away from Him," you're actually closer than you think. If you think you're far, you're near, if you think you're near by your own life, you're far away from Him. That's the Gospel.

This woman understood that. But how could she touch Him. He was holiness made flesh. Whenever the unholy touched the holy, the unholy person died!

Think of Sinai, God essentially says that if a sinner touches His holy mountain, they would die.

Think of Uzzah and the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was holy, and when it almost fell, Uzzah reached out to steady it and when he touched it he was instantly killed.

How about Nabad and Abihu, who were told not to touch or mess with the holy fire. What happened to them when they did? They died!

Yet this woman comes up and touches Jesus and lives! Why?

Because in the incredible grace of God. When it was the right time, He sent His Son into the world, the Holy One of God came to us, and when this unholy woman came to touch the Holy One, instead of her dying, the Holy One died for her.

She laid upon Him her uncleanness and He took it upon Himself and eventually He died upon a cross for her unholiness. The holy died to make the unholy, holy.

This is what it means to be a Christian. Our unholiness is transferred to Him, and His holiness is transferred to me.

This woman's flow of blood stopped, because His flow of blood would begin.

We now stand before God, represented before God, holy without blemish before Him.

This is what Ephesians 5 tells us:

Ephesians 5:27: "so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."

This is what Colossians 1 teaches:

Colossians 1:19-22: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him"

Because of Christ's holiness we are holy, blameless, and finally presentable before God!