Gloria In Excelsis Deo | Tyrone P Jones | Christmas At Church For The City

Well, God bless you. Thanks for being with us here at Church for the City, where we're going to teach the Word of God. We're going to encounter the presence of Him as we did so far, and we're going to spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and hope you have a wonderful evening tonight and on into tomorrow. Now, I'm not going to have you a minute to mingle because you'll lose your seat. And so, what I do want you to do though is go ahead and take out your Bible. Those of you that are standing, I know the lobby is full, but there is an overflow area upstairs. If you want to listen to the message upstairs without standing, please feel free that you'll be able to see me and hear the message upstairs if you'd rather do that than stand. I'm going to ask everybody, if they would, to take their Bibles. We're going to go to Luke 2. I'm going to go right into the reading of the Word there and dive right into the message. And then I'll have you give your neighbor a high five and scoot yourself right on down for safety's sake, all right? Luke 2, verses 1 through 20. Here's the word of the Lord. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered to each of his own town. 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 the lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the end. And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field. This really has nothing to do with the message, but it just hit me to say this. You notice it says that Mary gave birth to her firstborn son because some people don't believe Mary had more children after Jesus. But I think the Bible just corrected

that and I didn't want you to miss it. Is that all right? Verse number 8, and in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. An angel said to them, fear not for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you and you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloth and lying in a manger. Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them. Father, I ask that you would just help us in this time of delivering the word of God. I pray that I would decrease, that you will increase. Lord, may your Holy Spirit and the word connect with everyone that's watching, listening, everyone in this house, everyone in this room, whether they're in this room, the lobby, upstairs. Come Holy Spirit, you speak. You bring forth your truth. And may each of us know that we've had a face-to-face encounter with the Almighty God. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. You may give your neighbor a high five and take your seat. Those again that if you'd rather have a place to sit, you can go upstairs. I'm so grateful that you're here and hope that you're comfortable where you are. And we'll do our best to only keep you standing for two hours, no longer, I promise. No, just hang with me here

for 30 minutes. The title of this message is Gloria in Excelsis Deo, which is, of course, is glory to God in the highest. And whenever we approach Christmas Eve, we have to approach it very tenderly. On the one hand, you do have people that are joyful, you got people that are excited, you got people who are looking forward to being with family, you're looking forward to fun, it's a lot of laughter and a lot of light. But then, for others, it's marked by absence and maybe grief. Some people maybe even regret, and for others, a real longing. It's really in that reality that Luke tells us that heaven is spoken. It's in the reality of any gamut of thought or emotion that anybody in this room can actually have. And this first Christmas was by no means sentimental, but it was startling. God did not wait till the world was ready, or he didn't wait till the world was peaceful, he didn't wait till the world was worthy of his appearance. This God came into the world at that time, and maybe even today, is ruled by fear and oppression and spiritual darkness. Now, there was anticipation because there was those, and you could read Luke chapter one and see that very clearly, there were those who was waiting for the Messiah and the consolation of Israel. If you read chapter one again, you'll see Simeon

and you'll see Annas, the widow prophet. So when he came, heaven did not stay quiet. The main verse there, Luke 2, 13 and 14, and suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest. That was a proclamation. And peace on earth to those who he is pleased. It's an ancient song. It's one that we just, or we'll sing right after this message, and it really does call people who are weary, maybe people that are wandering, maybe people that are doubting, that there is a call from God for them to still come and to see what the Lord offers. There's a few things I wanna bring out particularly out of this, and the first thing is that God did come in history. I won't reread verses one through seven, but what I do want you to notice, and hopefully you heard it when I did read it, is that there was names mentioned there. Those are real people in real time, real leaders, people who could be found, people who could be identified. And Luke, he anchors his writing about the birth of Jesus in real history. He says in the days the decree went out with Caesar Augustus, you can check the records and find out that that really happened. The interesting thing about Caesar Augustus

is he really believed that he was the savior of Rome because when he did come in, which was 27 BC, when he came in, he began what is known by the Pax Romana, where he brought peace to Rome. It's interesting that Luke subtly inserts this because while Augustus is counting people for taxes, God was counting on a promise that he had instituted because 700 years earlier than this, the prophet Micah, he had clearly said that there would be a Messiah, that he would be born, and he would be born in Bethlehem. That was startling to the world then because even in that day, Bethlehem was a place of no repute at all. As a matter of fact, Micah says it like this, "'But you, O Bethlehem, Aprapha, who are too little "'to be among the clans of Judah. "'From you shall come forth from me, "'one is to be ruler in Israel, "'whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days.'" Here is another reason to believe the veracity of the Bible. 700 years before Christ was born, Micah declares that there would be a Messiah born in Bethlehem. So interestingly enough, Mary and Joseph did not choose Bethlehem. Bethlehem was chose for them. God had already proclaimed that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. All they had to do was do what they needed to do that they had to be obedient to at the time.

It's obvious to them that they did not know that at the time that they would be in Bethlehem that the child would be born. They just went there because they knew that's where they were supposed to be. It was an imperial decree that fulfilled a divine promise. There's a lot more to that that I can unpack because Joseph had to be the surrogate father of the infant Jesus. Wherever the surrogate father was going to be, he had to come from the house of David, meaning he had to come from Bethlehem, meaning when a decree came out, he had to go back to his home. So all of this was done by the work of a sovereign God. There is nothing accidental about the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. This sovereign God that oversees all of history is the same God that orchestrated for Pharaoh to release the people of Israel, which was prophesied 400 years before Pharaoh had control of them. And even for Cyrus to let the people go back to their home, who Cyrus' name was given to the prophet 150 years before Cyrus was even born. History is absolutely under God's control. And so while Caesar Augustus is believing that he's the savior of Rome, the God of heaven is inserting himself and delivering what absolutely could be the peace of all mankind through Jesus Christ. One final note on that before I move on to the second point. The scripture says there was no room for them in the end. The Son of God entered the world without privilege. Scripture is clear that he was laid in the manger where angels fed. And some people tonight, you may feel like that there's just no room for you in life. Maybe in your life, it's lacking peace, it's lacking hope. And Christmas oftentimes may remind you of things that you don't want to remember. But I'm telling you, there's still room in this world that's given to us by the Almighty God because he indeed loves you. You may feel like you're in a crowded, messy, chaotic world

and overlooked, but the scripture is very, very clear. The purposes of God can still be fulfilled in your life. People may push you out of mainstream of reality, just like they did these shepherds. But the sovereign God has promised to do in your life the very thing that he said he would do, and make a place for you, and bring you peace. Our God, our Father is a God that keeps his promises. Can you say amen? Now, while that was happening, there was another announcement going on. And that's the second thing because there's good news and there's a sign, verses 8 through 12. We see the shepherds here that are out in the field just doing what they do, guarding their flock. And suddenly, the angel appears from heaven and he gives them a message. Of course, there's the lights and the very appearance of an angel. And he tells them, of course, don't be afraid, I'll bring you some good news. It's news that's going to bring great joy. And he says, you're going to recognize what I'm telling you is true, that there is a Savior born. You're going to recognize him because he's wrapped in swaddling cloth and these snuggly strips of cloth. And so, God sends his angel, but not to a palace. He sends his angels to shepherds. Why? So that they would hear that this is good news for all people. It's not just for the limited. Oftentimes, when things are done to certain segments of people, those who are not part of that segment may say, those are for those people but not for us. That's why he comes to the shepherds who were looked upon by everyone as the lowest class of people. He didn't come to anybody in the palace. He didn't come to people who were affluent. He didn't come to people who were significant or people would even know their name. He came to the shepherds who lived on the margins. As a matter of fact, they worked nights, they smelled of sheep. A shepherd's testimony was not considered valid in the court, but yet heaven chose them. So when the angel appears, the shepherds are terrified, and rightly so. And if you think that you won't be terrified if you see an angel, you fooling yourself. You would be too. So the angel has to say, fear not. Why? He says, don't be afraid. This is not a message of doom. This is not a message that should cause you any kind of fear. Actually, the message that I'm bringing is

going to bring great joy, not just to you, but to all the world, to all people. And so he tells them that you're going to find this savior that I'm talking about, and he's wrapped in swaddling clothes. On the surface, you may not think that there's any kind of connection on what he's saying about these swaddling cloths. You may not think there's any kind of connection, but the angels got it, and I want you to get it, because what the angels said was absolutely intentional. If you told me, pastor, I got a new son born, he's down at the hospital, just go down there and see him. You'll know him because he's wrapped in a blanket. Every infant at the hospital is wrapped in a blanket. How would I know that it's yours? But when he told those sheep, those shepherds, that he's wrapped in swaddling cloth, they couldn't miss that, because swaddling cloth was not used by the common people to wrap their children. The only people that used swaddling cloth was shepherds. Every time a lamb was born that was pure and unblemished, that could be used for the sacrifice, they would wrap him in swaddling cloth. So this is what they knew. No matter how many babies are born in Bethlehem tonight, we're only looking for one that will use the same kind of cloth to wrap a pure, unblemished one like we would. And that was Jesus, the Messiah. Can you say amen to that? And it's absolutely a precursor,

because we know, you know, that this is indeed the Lamb of God. He's the Lamb of God. And because he's the Lamb of God, the scripture says he is absolutely the Messiah. John 1.29 says the next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is John the Baptist when he sees Jesus. He calls him what he was, the Lamb of God. First Peter 1.18 and 19, listen to what it says to us about this Lamb, for you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors, and it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which those things lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. That's our Savior, that's the Messiah, that's the one that was born, placed in the manger, and wrapped with those swaddling cloth. So many people have a wrong concept of God, just a wrong concept, and missed the whole idea that his desire to have a relationship with us. Many people think of Christianity as being demanding. The reason I'm not a Christian is because of all the rules or what people tell you to do. Christianity does not begin with a demand, not at all. Christianity begins with an announcement, not with what you must do for God,

but for what God has done for us. It's not a demand, it's an announcement. We sometimes expect big solutions that come in impressive packages, and people maybe with degrees and wealth and influence, and I certainly have no concern with any of that, but God sends his Son wrapped in vulnerability. Even today, people miss Jesus, not because Jesus is hidden, but because Jesus is humble. Here's the third thing, and that's this, salvation proclaimed in a song. I do wanna read verse 13 and 14 again out of A New Living. It says, suddenly the angel was joined by a vast host of others, the armies of heaven, praising God and saying, glory to God in highest heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. Suddenly, suddenly, the skies are filled with an army of angels, not shouting commands, but singing, clearly declaring that God should be glorified. And the whole idea, of course, of glorifying God is responding to God with what he's worth, a trust in him and worship. Glory to God to the highest is what he says because Christmas is first about God's glory. In Jesus, what is revealed is the holiness of God and the faithfulness of God and the love of God. When Solomon finished the temple in the Old Testament and dedicated that temple, God's glory filled that. that building, fill that building. But this time the announcement is different.

He's saying that the glory of the Lord is going to fill, but it's not filling a building, it's filling a body. And that body is Jesus Christ, revealing God to us in all of his humanity. Peace on earth because Rome had promised peace through power but God promises peace through a person. We talked a lot about this peace on Sunday the 21st last Sunday and peace is not merely just calm circumstances but it's a restored relationship. A restored relationship between us and the God of heaven. There's a constant war between heaven and earth because of the sin of mankind but God came to resolve that and to restore that so that each of us can be at peace with the God who created us. Many people chase after peace through maybe success and relationships, try to distract themselves from the things that are in front of them but yet that anxiety remains. But true peace is not found by managing your life better but by being reconciled to God. And he makes this statement among those whom he is pleased. This does not mean at all that God is pleased with perfect people, it means all of those who would receive the peace and the grace and the favor that he's extending to us. We don't earn God's favor, Jesus is God's favor and everyone who trusts in him can step into the peace

that heaven has announced. That leads me to the fourth thing and actually the last statement from this text and that's this, how people respond when they encounter Christ. I want you to see a few things about these shepherds here. When they heard this message, it did not take them long to figure out what they needed to do, that this was not something they needed to ponder, this was not something they needed to pray about, this was not something they needed to think about what to do with it. Actually, they knew this needed some urgent attention and the shepherds actually show us what saving faith looks like. Saving faith, faith that when you truly believe in God, it's proven by the action that you have. And I'm not talking about a moral perfection, I'm talking about a life that absolutely wants to witness about the God that you now know. Look at what the shepherds did, they acted upon it. People sometimes say that they do believe but they don't have to do the things you do. Maybe not, depending on what it is that they're talking about but there are some things that every one of us who really do have saving faith, who really do believe in Jesus, there are some things that all of us will do. Notice what the shepherds do, they go to Jesus. Saving faith is not passive.

Saving faith doesn't say I have Jesus but you don't pursue a relationship with him at all. Saving faith is going to Jesus, pursuing Jesus, going after Jesus because that's whom you say that you have received. How much sense would it make for me to tell Lady V before we got married, I love you, I love you, I love you and never go see her, never pursue her? Could have saved myself some money with some rings. But what kind of action would that really say about my love? All right, Rusty, sorry, that might have been a bad example. I see you shaking your head but you get the point. We can't say that we believe in Jesus and never pursue him. Saving faith always goes after him and not just at the moment. Everything about your life is going after him, is pursuing him. And then they told, they spread the word. When grace grips your heart, your testimony is gonna find a voice. You wanna tell people about Jesus. You wanna tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ who changed your life. And honestly, you don't even have to make up a testimony. If your heart is changed, your mind is changed, then your life is changed. is changed, you're just declaring what's been changed. You don't have to make it up. And you're grateful to tell people what Christ has done. And then they praised him.

They praised him. They went back to those fields as chained shepherds. Shepherds that had found a savior. Shepherds that had identified the Messiah. Shepherds that now have a new heart. And there's Mary when she hears all this because they're telling Mary the story. She treasures all these things in her heart, which Christmas does just that. It invites us to public praise, which we have done, but also private reflection. Now, as I kind of wrap this up and conclude this, I want you to note some things. Because what we read here in Luke chapter two is absolutely an invitation that leads us into light. Listen, on this holy night, there's no pressure, there's no spotlight, there's not even an expectation that you're gonna have everything in life figured out. But there is an invitation. There is an invitation. And when we enter Christmas Eve as we are, it is a night that's filled with light. But I also know this, for a lot of people here in this room, people that may be watching, people that are listening, it's also a night that's filled with longing. When I say longing, I mean real longing. Longing for family, longing for festivity, longing for bliss. Maybe for the next couple of days, you're hoping and longing for family to be together and enjoy a good time.

And I hope all of that is absolute fact. But I can tell you this, that even when Christmas Eve is over, and Christmas is over, and all the fun, and all the festivity, and all the bliss is over, for some people, there's still a deep longing in your soul that has not been fulfilled, hasn't been fulfilled. If you haven't looked at this baby in the manger and recognized that he was born for you, and that you can't rejoice, not because of Christmas, but because Christ is not only born, but is in your life, then I'm telling you, it's an invitation for you. It's an invitation for you to receive this Christ, indeed, who was born for all people. And then there's maybe others of you. Your home tonight may be lights glowing, but your heart is still dark. You can be surrounded by people and still feel so unseen. Here's the good news about Christmas. God sees you. The Lord sees you. He knows your name. And in Jesus, he's come looking for you. That might simply be just a whisper in your heart, just thanking God for loving you, thanking God for sending Jesus, and just a simple whisper of receiving his peace. It's not a prayer of performance. It's a prayer of trust, of turning to Christ our Savior. And I know also for others here tonight for a fact,

there may be a empty chair at the table. There's a name that's missing maybe from the gift tags. And for some, the name is on the gift tags, but the person is no longer here. There's a voice that you've heard, and you've heard it for the last time here on earth. I read where someone said this, that grief is love with nowhere to go. Grief is love with nowhere to go. And Christmas sometimes can intensify that ache, that grief, that love you wanna give that it can't go to that person anymore. But the message of the manger is that our God is not distant from your sorrow. He's not distant. As a matter of fact, he stepped into it. It would be later on that Jesus would be called the man of sorrows who's acquainted with grief. And he is, he is. That's why I know we can never say, no matter what kind of pain we're going through, that God doesn't love us. He loves you more than you know. He loves you so much that he suffered for you. He took the agony. This same Jesus that was born in a manger is the same one that carried the cross. He took on the shame and the humiliation of being falsely accused and suffering the worst punishment that's ever been known to mankind.

And so yeah, you may be hurting, you may be suffering. But that should never question the fact that the God in heaven, he loves you. He loves you so much that he sent his son to experience what you will never have to experience because he loves you more than you know. So the peace that's announced by the angels was purchased by a sacrifice. And that peace is offered greatly. It's offered freely. It's offered personally. So if you're weary, just know this, Christ offers rest. If you're grieving, he offers comfort. If you're feeling alone, this Jesus is drawing you near. And if you feel far from God, tonight is not about trying harder. It's just simply about receiving the gift. In just a moment, we're gonna be standing and we're gonna light candles and we're gonna sing Silent Night. And as these lights are passed from one person to another, just remind you of this truth. The light of Christ is not something you gotta create. It's already created. You just gotta receive it. You just gotta receive it. And once it's received, guess what you get to do? You get to share it with someone else. It's the same thing we're gonna do here because we can absolutely proclaim glory to God

to the highest and peace on earth among those whom he's well pleased. This is Christmas. Gloria in excelsis Deo. Everybody stand if you would. Father, I wanna thank you for this opportunity to share your word and your truth with the desire, Lord God, that everyone here that has heard the message of the angels would receive that message. Knowing that this baby that was born in the manger was born for all people, he is Christ. He is the savior of the world. And Lord, may each of us receive him, receive him and become part of those in whom you are well pleased. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen.