The Famous One
Sounds of Christmas • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewSongs are impactful. Around Christmas each year, we sing familiar chorus’ and songs that are memorable and meaningful. Christmas Carols or Hymns are important as they present a biblical message.
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December 10th 2023
Series: The Sounds of Christmas
Sermon Title: The Famous One – Angels we have Heard on High
Topic: Christmas Carols/Hymns that Inform our Theology
Key Passages: Matthew 2, Luke 2
Sermon Blurb: Songs are impactful. Around Christmas each year, we sing familiar chorus’ and songs that are memorable and meaningful. Christmas Carols or Hymns are important as they present a biblical message.
[Verse 1]
Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains
[Chorus]
Gloria in excelsis Deo
Gloria in excelsis Deo
[Verse 2]
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
Say what may the tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song
[Chorus]
Gloria in excelsis Deo
Gloria in excelsis Deo
[Verse 3]
Come to Bethlehem and see
Him Whose birth the angels sing
Come, adore on bended knee
Christ the Lord, the newborn King
Green in sermons means illustration, something we are looking for a response from, or a picture that goes on the screens.
Yellow means what is yellow will be on the screens and in the handout.
Sermon:
Hello Family Church!
Family Moment –
Dan / Steve we like to try and start our messages with something personal from our family life recently to help people get to know us.
We’re in week 2 of a series that we are calling, “The Sounds of Christmas.”
If you love Christmas songs, this series is going to be one of your favorites!
In fact, if you are a LOVER of Christmas and all the great songs, then we officially deem you an honorary member of this guy……
Put that picture up on the screen.
TEAM SANTA!
However…….. if you HATE Christmas songs.
If you twitch and cringe at the sounds of jingling bells
Then we’re going to deem you on another guy's team…
Put him up on the screen…
TEAM SCOOGE / TEAM GRINCH!
But remember... even Scrooge and the Grinch came around at the end!
So, maybe by the end of this series, you will jump onto another team…
Maybe you will end up…at the end of this series…like this guy….
Elf Movie pic… T
PAUSE
But in all seriousness…. This month, we are going to allow familiar Christmas Hymns to guide our focus each week.
We’re going to spend time with a few of these choruses and lean into the Biblical message that each of them so beautifully conveys.
Because songs have a way of making a lasting impression!
They stir up thoughts…
Emotions…
Memories…
When we put words to a good melody, something powerful occurs!
I mean……let’s be honest, without the songs of Christmas, the season just wouldn’t be the same.
LONG PAUSE
So, let’s jump in today...
And let’s start I want to start by laying a foundational statement for the song we’re going to look at.
Write this down.
Christmas is about the Gospel Message, the Good News of great joy to all people!
Repeat
And this is really where I want us to stay in the message today.
PAUSE
The song we’ll focus around today is Angels We Have Heard on High.
Just like last week, let me give you some background on this song.
This song was originally written in French back in the 1700’s.
2 quick-facts about this song:
First, the original author is unknown... which really stinks for whoever it was.
Second, the original song had 8 VERSES... which is quite long, considering most songs only have 3-5 verses.
I find it kind of humorous that the original song was REALLY, REALLY, lengthy because every time I sing the GLOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOo OOOOO ria, I run out of breath because it is STILL too lengthy!!!
LOL!
PAUSE
In 1855 the lyrics and music were published as a song for the first time.
The English version we have today was composed in 1862 by Henri Hemy.
He compressed the 8 verses down to 4.
PAUSE
Let’s look at this song….
Verse 1 -Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o'er the plains And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains
Chorus - Gloria in excelsis Deo Gloria in excelsis Deo
The chorus, right here, is a phrase straight from Luke 2:14:
Gloria in Excelsis Deo means Glory to God in the Highest
Let’s look at this in the Bible.
Grab your Bibles and open them up to Luke chapter 2….
Let’s see where the roots of this song come from….
Luke 2:6-20 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
See there is that phrase from the song….
15 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.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
We will stop reading there….
Now, there are a TON of amazing things going on in this passage, and our song deals with most of it.
So, let’s look at the 3 most familiar verses of this song:
Let’s go back to verse 1….
Verse 1 -Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o'er the plains And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains
Look in your Bible at verses 9-13….
That is what this song depicts….
The Angels of heaven… on earth to announce the birth of Jesus…
And the earth, the people of earth…. echoes back a JOYUS message….
The course….
Put it back up on screens….
Chorus - Gloria in excelsis Deo Gloria in excelsis Deo
Glory to God in the Highest!
It’s what we call today in worship services a “Call and Response.”
It’s a worshipful call and response from heaven to earth!
And there is no hesitancy on the part of either the angels or the Earth to worship Jesus because both parties know Who He is!!!
He is Christ the Lord...
The God of Heaven and Earth.
PAUSE
Let’s look at verse 2:
This verse takes us to the response of the Shepherds.
Verse 2 - Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong? Say what may the tidings be Which inspire your heavenly song
Look back at verse 10 in your Bible...
Luke told us that the shepherds were afraid.
So the Angel said, ‘don’t fear’.
I am not here to harm you but what church?
What did the Angel tell the shepherds He came to give?
I am bringing Good News of Great Joy to All People!
And immediately, their fear turns to faith... which leads to joy when they see Jesus.
PAUSE
Not only were these shepherds filled with excitement and joy...… but verse 17, says they spread the Word to others!
Then others were filled with joy!
And that’s one of the beautiful things about Christmas….. our joy of knowing Jesus causes us to share joy with others!
Write this down:
The joy of Jesus is contagious!
Repeat
Think about this church…..
When others look at your life, do they ask you, “Why are you SOOO joyous?”
OR “Why are always SO excited about what Jesus is doing?”
Do people EVER look at you and wonder….
What do you have that I don’t?
PAUSE
So, let’s look at verse 3.
The 3rd verse, we progress onto the manger scene itself...
As the shepherds arrive to find the baby Jesus.
AS you look at Verse 3 on the screens…
Also look at verse 15-18 in your Bible….
Verse 3 - Come to Bethlehem and see Him Whose birth the angels sing Come, adore on bended knee Christ the Lord, the newborn King
The shepherds encounter with the Angels motivated them.
They left their flocks and go see what the angels told them about.
As they arrived, they saw what the angels proclaimed.
They saw God in the flesh - the Famous One Himself...
The Messiah,
Jesus Christ.
And though Scripture doesn’t indicate they got down on their knees or bowed to Jesus…..
Scripture does imply that these Shepherds were amazed at what they saw…..
Not only did the Shepherds feel joy but they were also in awe of Jesus…
In awe of God as they worshipped..
And their NATURAL response to what they experienced was to spread the Word about Jesus’ arrival.
I hope church you can see the direct correlation between Angels We Have Heard on High and Luke 2…
PAUSE
Church let me close with the reality of what Christmas is all about……..
What this song is all about….
Before Jesus came to earth,
He was God in heaven, and the angels worshiped Him.
Before Jesus came to earth,
He was God in heaven, and angels served Him.
And when He arrived on earth…. His deity, His God-nature, didn’t suddenly go away.
As Christians, we believe Jesus was still FULLY God…
Jesus wasn’t half-God, half-man, like Hercules.
Jesus was fully God AND fully man.
So, when Jesus came to earth, He was still GOD.
He left His heavenly throne but was still fully GOD!
He laid down His Divine privileges but was still fully GOD.
PAUSE
So, these angels continued to worship and serve Jesus because to them, nothing had changed.
Jesus had always been God and He was still fully God, so they accompanied Him to earth and announced His arrival!
And it is CLEAR the Angels that accompanied Jesus to earth - they knew WHY He was coming.
They knew Jesus was going to save the world from sin and death… so when they proclaimed His arrival, announcing it as
“Good News of Great Joy to ALL PEOPLE!”
PAUSE
Clearly, the Angels of Heaven have no issues with the Lordship of Jesus….
They have no problem worshiping Jesus as Lord.
PAUSE
The shepherds in our song, they came to Jesus as a baby and regardless of whether they physically bowed or not…
They spiritually surrendered before Christ…
The saw Jesus’ Lordship on display!
PAUSE
So, here’s the thing.
The Angels know Who Jesus was.
The Shepard saw Who Jesus was.
There was no hesitancy to worship Jesus as God and Lord.
PAUSE
But what about you?
Do you know Jesus as Lord?
Do you believe Jesus is God?
Is Jesus your PERSONAL Lord?
Will you join in this great chorus and declare ‘Glory to God in the highest’!
Do you believe that Jesus is Lord of All?
Is He REALLY Lord of your life?????
Including:
Lord in your family?
Your marriage?
Your parenting?
Your career?
Your education?
Lord of your attitude?
Your behaviors?
Your speech?
Your interactions with others?
Lord of your thought life?
Lord over your money management?
Is Jesus Lord in your life?
And is He Lord of ALL in your life?
PAUSE
For some, He is!
For others, He was but is no longer….
For some here today…. He is not-yet.
My prayer is that wherever you are today in your faith journey with Jesus, you will take one step closer to Him today.
PAUSE
Let me close with our life application…
For those of you who are new, or newer, to Family Church.
We LOVE to end our services with something for you to take and consider during the week and apply the message to your life…
So this week it is this….
Life Application: The natural response to Jesus as Lord is to worship AND tell others about Him. How could you prioritize worshiping Jesus MORE and sharing Jesus with MORE people this Christmas season? I Will ______________________________________