The Somberness of Christmas

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 great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of 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!”

What stands out to you from this text?

What message did the angels from to proclaim?

What two key words indicate the reason for the coming of Jesus?

Savior

Peace

Why is it critical that we not gloss over these two words or the purpose they point to?

We can make Christmas about us. We can make Christmas about pleasure, our identity, our comfort, our wants and wishes.

But it is not about that.

It is about God’s glory IN SATISFYING JUST WRATH FOR SINNERS by sending a substitute for their sins so that he MAY SAVE some from their sins and RESTORE PEACE between those rebellious sinners and Himself.

The message they come proclaiming, the good news they spoke about was PEACE with men because the SAVIOR had arrived who would once and for ever deal with the thing that was keeping us separated from Him.

Abba,

The angels came to herald peace. And this is incredibly good news! So much of our Christmas celebrations focuses on the good news, and for sure, it is!

But what makes it good news?

It is good news because You came to make peace with men.

And why was there a need to make peace with men?

Because of our sin and rebellion against Your holy and divine name.

The good news of Christmas is only good news because of the bad news of our sin and Your judgement for that sin.

The problem is, we want to take all the good things You have promised, that You give…

We want to take all the good of You and we tend to leave out the bad. Our gospel has become man centered. Our theology has become man focused.

But the truth is, the good is not good apart from the bad. The good is good precisely because of the bad of our sin. The gospel is not about us. The truth of theology is not about us. It is about Your glory. It is about YOUR person.

Jesus, Your entrance into this world was not just because You felt like it. It was necessary in order for You to successfully divert Your own holy wrath from me. It was to show us You and to make much of You and cause us to delight in You. Your love, Your unselfish choice for my highest good, is what necessitated Your coming. You willingly endured what You did in order to put MY needs above Your own rights. And in so doing, You made much of Your infinite worth. No, this is not, nor ever was, about goodness in me.

Your coming is good news. But it is good news precipitated by the bad news of my sin and rebellion against my Divine Creator and God. It is good news because of my utter worthlessness and filth.

It is all too easy to forget this fact.

This puts a seriousness and somberness to Christmas and our celebrations that we would be wise to be mindful of.

Christmas IS good news.

But this good news is because of the foul nature and result of sin.

It ought to humble us that Your coming, Jesus, was even necessary.

It ought to humble us that our bad news cost You Your place in Heaven next to the Father.

It ought to humble us that our sin cost You Your earthly life.

It ought to humble us that our sin forced you to bear the guilt of the world’s sin AND the wrath of Your Father for those sins.

Christmas is about MORE than the birth of a baby.

Christmas is about the birth of THE SON OF GOD into humanity so that He might bear Your wrath, Father, for MY sins and thus satisfy Your holy justice so that You can then extend forgiveness for my sins without my having to pay the cost.

Yes, indeed…THIS puts Christmas and our gift giving traditions into a much more serious and somber tone.

We celebrate good news….

But I fear in our celebrations, we neglect the good news, hiding it under a cacophony of meaningless glamor.

Bring our hearts back, Abba, to the peace Your angels announced.

Bring our hearts back to the gospel that is at the heart of the Son’s coming.

Paul Tripp defined the brokenness of sin using five words. Throughout this morning, we will consider those five words and their import to a meaningful reflection of Christmas this seasons.

Separation

What is the greatest consequence of sin?

What does it mean to be separated from something?

What are implications/consequences of when you are separated from something?

What happens to a relationship (such as military) when they separated from each other for long periods of time?

Eph 4:18.

Ephesians 4:18 ESV

18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

Alienated - estranged - Relationship at odds.

THIS is the listed as the number one consequence of being darkened in their minds.

The real issue of sin is that it estranges the created from the Creator. It disrupts the relationship we were created for.

It is not for no reason that Jesus prays....

John 17:1-3.

John 17:1–3 ESV

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Sin’s greatest offense was separating us from God.

And because we are all born in sin, we are all born in that condition....

Col 1:21.

Colossians 1:21 ESV

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

In our sin, we are alienated from God. Separated from Him.

Listen, man’s greatest need is to be reconciled to God. PERIOD.

Sin separated us from intimacy and fellowship with God.

We were created for intimacy with God.

Being separated from God robs us of the core reason for our existence.

Sin’s great offense is robbing us of one of the core reasons for which we were created - LIFE. Fellowship and intimacy with God.

Inability

What are we able to do about separation from God?

Not only does sin separate us from God, it leaves us unable to do anything about it.

Romans 3:10-12.

Romans 3:10–12 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

John 6:44.

John 6:44 ESV

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Left to ourselves, what are we able to do about our separation from God?

NOTHING.

We wouldn’t even want to, even if we could.

Sin makes it impossible for us to seek God without His intervention.

Sin makes it impossible to think as we ought

Sin makes it impossible to desire as we ought.

Sin makes it impossible to speak as we ought.

Sin makes it impossible to behave as we ought.

Sin blinds us.

Sin deludes our thinking.

Delusion

What does it mean to be deluded?

What does it mean to possess delusion?

Delude - The mislead the mind or judgement

To be convinced of something that is not true or accurate.

We do not know ourselves nearly as well as we think we do. (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Jeremiah 17:9–10 ESV

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

We do not see ourselves accurately.

We think ourselves more righteous and good than we are.

Proverbs 30:12-13.

Proverbs 30:12–13 ESV

12 There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth. 13 There are those—how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift!

We are often blind to our own faults and weaknesses.

Not only that, we tend to look down on others who are struggling with sin, entrapped in sin.

How high their eyelids lift...

We pride ourselves in standing in judgment over others.

We think ourselves better than we are. We think ourselves to be good.

Luke 18:10-12.

Luke 18:10–12 ESV

10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

This is our natural posture, in the flesh.

Because of that, we do not seek help or see our need for salvation. We tend to think we are ok.

But we aren’t. We rightfully deserve judgment.

Judgement

What does judgment mean?

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition judgment

judg•ment or judge•ment \ˈjəj-mənt\ noun

(13th century)

1 a : a formal utterance of an authoritative opinion

b : an opinion so pronounced

2 a : a formal decision given by a court

2 b (1) : an obligation (as a debt) created by the decree of a court

(2) : a certificate evidencing such a decree

3 a capitalized : the final judging of mankind by God

b : a divine sentence or decision; specifically : a calamity held to be sent by God

4 a : the process of forming an opinion or evaluation by discerning and comparing

b : an opinion or estimate so formed

5 a : the capacity for judging : DISCERNMENT

b : the exercise of this capacity

6 : a proposition stating something believed or asserted

The Greek sense is very similar but usually involves BOTH the authoritative decision AND the sentence that comes with it.

What does it mean to stand in judgement over someone else?

It means to stand over one and condemn their actions as wrong AS WELL AS to pass sentence for their commission of that sin.

It is NOT judgement to tell someone that their actions are wrong (as long as they truly are wrong by God’s standard) and to warn them of the danger that comes if they continue in that action.

It IS wrong to call something sinful that God does not.

It IS wrong (and thus judgmental) to pass sentence on someone because they have legitimately done wrong or because you perceive they have done wrong.

Who is the only right who has the right to set the standard for right and wrong?

Who is the only one who has the right to issue sentence for violating what is right and doing wrong?

We are told that judgment comes for all.

Hebrews 9:27.

Hebrews 9:27 ESV

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

In our sinful state, that judgment is devastation.

Eph 2:1-3.

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Romans 6:23.

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Death - in case, eternal separation from God is the JUST judgement for wrongs committed by men against God.

Our sin demands judgement by the just judge of the universe, the creator of all things.

And since we are utterly unable to do anything about it, we find ourselves in a hopeless state.

Hopelessness

What is hope?

Confident expectation

What is hopelessness then?

A certainty of one’s helpless state that leads to despair.

The LACK of confident expectation, almost (if not completely) to the point of the assurance that the thing won’t happen.

Hope, even as the world defines it, a strong desire, longing, or sense of possibility, is a powerful motivator. When defined as a CONFIDENT EXPECTATION, it is undefeated and unrivaled.

THEREFORE, to be HOPELESS is to be in despair, utter ruin, and pointlessness.

The brokenness of sin is separation, inability, delusion, judgment…all of which lead to hopelessness.

Course, since we are deluded....we are not even fully aware of our hopelessness, nor do we feel it.

Hope is a matter of faith, of trust…it is a matter of the heart.

Sin is ultimately a matter of the heart.

You can, sometimes, escape your circumstances or oppressors.

However, you cannot run from yourself. You will take yourself with you where ever you go.

E.G. - The Village - A group of grieving and mourning individuals decided to leave society and return to the old days of the 1700/1800 hundreds. Thinking that by so doing, they could escape the pains of loss that come from sinful men and woman who hurt others. They discovered that they only take that brokenness with them.

We are unable to escape on our ourselves.

THUS, when you are in a state of hopelessness, there is often very little you can do to stop it.

Apart from Christ, that is our state.

Ephesians 2:11-12.

Ephesians 2:11–12 ESV

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

WITH OUT HOPE....

Because

We are without.

And God is Hope.

Our sin leaves us separated, unable, delusional, deserving judgment and therefore HOPELESS because sin separates us from God.

Determined Plan of God

Left as is, the brokenness of our sin leaves us destitute and devastated.

Why did I spend so much of our time today focusing on the broken aspect of our sin?

BECAUSE....until we understand and appreciate the bad news....we cannot understand or appreciate the import of the good news.

Good news is only good (or made better) in light of the bad news.

Sometimes, we focus so much on the Nativity, the birth of a child the coming of the Messiah, the Christ child, that we forget a shadow lay of the cross lay over that manger.

Jesus came BECAUSE HE HAD TOO if there was ever to be any restoring of hope, of mending the brokenness, of restoring man to intimate fellowship with God.

Our celebration of Christmas is the celebration that there is not where God left it.

Instead, God sent His Son, Jesus, to be born of virgin, to become fully man while still being fully God, to live the perfect and obedient life, and then to be framed and put to death for sins He did not commit, sins of the whole world, so that when He would crush His own Son on that cross, His just and holy wrath would be satisfied, and so that He could then give Jesus’ righteousness to us WHEN we repent and believe…and in so doing, restore to us intimacy with Him, mend the brokenness of sin, and give hope once more to us.

God’s promise of peace makes no sense to us unless we first are confronted with the reality of our enmity with God and our alienation from God.

The brokenness of our sin is defined by our separation, our inability, our delusion, God’s judgment, and our hopelessness in the situation.

BUT

God sent one, His Son, to make peace.

In a predetermined plan, God made a way to restore peace on earth, peace with me, thus erasing the brokenness of our sin.

Consider the prophecy of Isaiah...

Isaiah 9:6–7.

Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

This prophecy spoken hundreds of years before the time of Christ spoke of the day Christ would come.

In the midst of the deepest guilt and distress of the people, a voice speaks that is soft and mysterious but full of the blessed certainty of salvation through the birth of a divine child (Isa. 9:6—7). It is still seven hundred years until the time of fulfillment, but the prophet is so deeply immersed in God’s thought and counsel that he speaks of the future as if he saw it already, and he speaks of the salvific hour as if he already stood in adoration before the manger of Jesus. “For a child has been born for us.” What will happen one day is already real and certain in God’s eyes, and it will be not only for the salvation of future generations but already for the prophet who sees it coming and for his generation, indeed, for all generations on earth. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, and Jana Riess. God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas. Westminster John Knox Press, 2012.

But in truth, it goes even further back...

Genesis 3:14-15.

Genesis 3:14–15 ESV

14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

God’s plan was ALWAYS to permit sin to enter and then the step in and deal with it. God knew BEFORE He made the world that sin would mar His world. His sending Jesus was no after thought or plan B. It was necessary for the ultimate revelation of God to us, for our deepest satisfaction and delight in Him, and for His glory to be most brightly displayed.

As we continue throughout the coming weeks to Christmas, I pray that we take time to reflect upon the horrors of sin and the brokenness of it. ONLY in doing so, will the GOOD NEWS of Christmas, of the gospel appear as resplendent as it is!

Conclusion

Abba,

I love this thought; that for Isaiah, your plan was so set and determined, that he saw it AS IT ALREADY WAS IN YOUR MIND even though it was not already yet in reality, in time. Your plan was set from before the world began. You created the world with the full intent of Jesus death in play. (1 Peter 1:20: Ephesians 1:4; Romans 8:28-29). For you, Abba, there is no future. Only the present, only the fullness of all things. Time was part of your created order. It is as foreign to you as sin is. You just exist. Always have….always will. This is a concept, my finite mind cannot grasp. But I marvel in and worship its reality.

I am immensely thankful that your plan just IS. It is unchanging. It is already done. Though for me, I have not seen the fullness of it yet….Though for the OT saints who saw even less of it fulfilled…WE ALL have the assurance that your plan is as accomplished and set as rising and setting of the sun.

In this comforting truth, we take refuge and we wait with patient and joyful hope that no matter how long it takes for us to see the end promised to us, we will see it. For in you will, it is already done.

We love you, Abba.

Amen.

Application

Why are we hesitant at times to meditate upon the horrors and brokenness of sin?

We do not like to think about our own personal sin. Having to reflect upon the horrors of sin may well bring to light our own sin.

The horrors of other people sin hurts, is depressing. It is hard to reflect such things that hurt.

How does meditating upon it actually deepen our worship of God at Christmas?

The good news is only good because of the reason WHY He came. Otherwise, it is just the birth of another child, which is incredible, yes, but given the eternal and devastating nature of sin’s brokenness, the coming of the one who could deal with that brokenness and restore us to God is an an even greater truth.

Jesus’s coming WAS the hope for our sin that we needed. Without Christmas, Easter is pointless and meaningless. THUS you really cannot appreciate Christmas rightly without reflecting upon the cross and Jesus’ death.

How can we better incorporate the brokenness of sin into our traditions of remembering Christmas?

Not only reading the birth narrative in your celebrations, but reading the crucifixion account.

Taking time to give thanks for God’s forgiveness.

Confessing sin and taking radical steps to turn aside from it.

Daily in the days leading up to Christmas, asking the Spirit to expose sin that you are excusing, justifying, hiding, or unaware of. As it is exposed, repent of it, share it with a trusted brother/sister to help hold you to growing and leaving it behind. YES, we should be doing this EVERYDAY but having a mind to this during our Christmas (and Easter) celebrations is a great thing.

What is something you have done over the years that has helped you keep the somberness of sin as part of your Christmas celebration?

Why is it comforting to know that God’s plan is as accomplished now as it ever will be, that nothing can prevent God’s will from unfolding?

Because, it gives the confidence and assurance to our expectation. It is the foundation of our hope.