God's Good News of Great Joy... For YOU! - Part V

December 16, 2007

Scripture Readings-

Old Testament – Isaiah 35:3-6 (This is a very important reading in Biblical history. It goes back-to-back with the Gospel lesson and explains why Jesus did the miracles that He did.) Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.    

Epistle – James 5:7-11  (The Epistle lesson explains how we should behave and what we should be doing until Christ comes.) Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 

Gospel – Matthew 11:1-6 (God did not want people to miss that Jesus is Lord and Savior, the promised Messiah. If anyone had any doubt, this reading really puts those doubts to rest. This is the fulfillment of Biblical prophesies; this is Jesus saying, “Yes, I’m the Messiah because as you can see, I’ve fulfilled Isaiah 35 to the letter.”) After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”  

Sermon-

Today, God wants to come and amaze you. That’s what He was doing with the shepherds in the field when He announced the Savior had been born and God wants us to be amazed us too. Maybe my sister and I are easily amused but here’s what happened Saturday night, October 13^th. The 1960’s singing group Herman’s Hermits, led by Peter Noone, were in town at the Colonial Theater.   I knew my sister used to be a big fan of Herman’s Hermits; she was the ultimate teeny-bopper and bought all their records, so I bought tickets when I heard they were coming to town. My sister and brother-in-law came here for the concert and we had a wonderful time. Herman’s Hermits were just as big as the Beatles; they had twenty top-ten hit songs from 1964 to 1967 - big-time stuff! After the concert as we were driving home my sister said “Isn’t it amazing that when we were little kids in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin we saw Herman’s Hermits on the Ed Sullivan Show and now they’ve come to town, they’re here, we saw them in the flesh, in person, isn’t that amazing? All those records we bought that we’d take home and play again and again and again on our record player, that guy actually came to town and we saw him in person, isn’t that amazing?” And if you’re an American Idol fan, you know that earlier this year, Peter Noone, the lead singer from Herman’s Hermits, was on the program. He was one of the coaches trying to help the contestants do a good job. And my sister said, “I saw him earlier this year on American Idol and now he’s here, he’s come to town, we saw him in the flesh, isn’t that amazing?” It’s that same sense of amazement that God wanted to shepherds to have and wants you and I to have this morning. Today is the last part of our five part series on the “Real Meaning of Christmas” from Luke Chapter 2; “The angel said to the shepherds ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’” We are taking this passage snippet by snippet by snippet to see what God has to say to us.

Last Wednesday we discussed that “Savior” means “The Deliverer”. Yasha is the word the shepherds heard; Yasha translates as “Savior” or “The Deliverer”. Yasha is The Deliverer, our Savior from sin, from death, from the devil, from our fears, from the bad news, from the sad news. And we discussed that “Christ” means “The Anointed One”. When God was going to do something big, when He was going to send a king, a priest, or a prophet as a deliverer, He anointed them. They were given the stamp of approval by God to do a particular task. If someone is going to save us from sin, from death, from the devil, from our fears and the bad news in life it’s important that the person is anointed by God, has His stamp of approval. For example, we could decide that Andy is going to be our deliverer and we could take him out back, nail him to a cross and say, “He’s our sacrifice for sin”. The only trouble is that Andy doesn’t have God’s stamp of approval for being a deliverer.   Only Jesus Christ is The Anointed One, the One with God’s stamp of approval to be our deliverer from sin, death, the devil, our fears, the bad news and the sad news; Jesus has God’s stamp of approval, Jesus is the One that was chosen.

Today we want to talk about the phrase “the Lord” and what it means. What was the word the shepherds heard when the angel said “the Lord” and what did that word mean in their frame of reference? This is where it gets amazing. Last Wednesday night when we were talking about words and their meanings, I had some life savers and asked Kelsey if she wanted one. I said that to me life savers are candy and Kelsey said “No, a life saver is a mint.” And we talked about that on the Titanic a life saver means something totally different – its one of those round rings that keeps you afloat. In my frame of reference “life saver” means candy, in Kelsey’s frame of reference “life saver” means mint and to the people on the Titanic it’s something totally different.   You have to know the frame of reference. So, what did “the Lord” mean to the shepherds at that time?

The word that was spoken was a word that the shepherds had probably never heard spoken in their lives. The word was Yahweh, the Hebrew word for God, LORD. It was a word that was never spoken because God was holy. At that time, the people used a kind of nickname for God; they called him Jehovah. Jehovah is derived by taking the consents from Yahweh (Yhwh) and the vowels from another word that means God, Adoni, and combining them. The people didn’t speak God’s name in order to show the reverence and respect they had for Him. Leviticus Chapter 16 says “The LORD (Yahweh) spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached Yahweh. Yahweh said to Moses “Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark or else he will die because I, Yahweh, appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.” You just didn’t approach God whenever you wanted. He was perfect, He was holy and you were not. You didn’t even speak God’s name. So when the shepherds heard, “To you is born a Savior, a Deliverer, the Christ, the Anointed One, he is Yahweh”, wow! that was amazing! God had come! Not only had God come in person but He said “Fear not, there is good news and great joy. To you is born a deliverer from sin, from death and the devil; He is Yahweh Himself, He has come and He is for you and me. Yahweh has come to deliver us from sin, death, the devil, our fears, the bad news and the sad news in life. So don’t be afraid. And today, December 16, 2007, you can come up to the Holy of Holies, something Aaron and his sons couldn’t do. You can approach Yahweh who said He is going to be in, with and under the bread and the wine in Holy Communion because He said “This is my body, this is my blood”. You can approach Yahweh and He says “Fear not, I have great news for you because of that Savior, Christ the Lord, you are forgiven and you can approach Me whenever you want.” That is good news of great joy. And that’s exactly what the shepherds heard… “This person from the past, Yahweh, has come to deliver us.”

Where had the shepherds heard of Yahweh and what He had done; what was their frame of reference? Exodus Chapter 14 tells about God’s great deliverance of His people from slavery in Egypt; about God defeating the gods of the Egyptians, God defeating Pharaoh and bringing His people through the Red Sea into the Promised Land. Verse 30 says “That day Yahweh saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power Yahweh displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared Yahweh and put their trust in Him.” The shepherds heard that Yahweh, this Person from the past who had done that great deliverance, has now come in the flesh, He’s here! My sister was amazed when Peter Noone came to town, but now Yahweh has come. Wow! – that’s really amazing!

And the shepherd’s frame of reference may have been from Joshua Chapter 6, the Battle of Jericho. Remember that story? It was a great victory, a great deliverance. Verse 2 says, “And then Yahweh said to Joshua ‘See I have delivered Jericho into your hands along with its king and fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men, do this for six days and have seven priests carry trumpets and ram’s horns in front of the ark, on the seventh day, march around the city seven times with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast, have all the people give a shout and the walls of the city will collapse.’” This same great God that did the great deliverance that caused the walls of Jericho to just tumble down was Yahweh. And now He’s come, a Person out of the past that did great things, amazing things, He’s come for us; He’s here in the flesh. That’s amazing!

There are numerous stories in the Bible about God’s great deliverance. 1 Samuel Chapter 17 tells about David defeating Goliath. In verse 45 David said to Goliath, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of Yahweh, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day Yahweh will hand you over to me.” And you know the story, a little slingshot and bingo! Goliath was gone! A great deliverance; Yahweh stepping in and empowering David to defeat Goliath. And that same great God, Yahweh, has now come; He’s here! He’s here for you and me and He says “Fear not, good news, great joy. You are delivered from sin, death, the devil, the bad news and the sad news; you’re delivered because I, the same One Who delivered David, has come to deliver you personally.

No doubt the shepherds were also aware of what happened to Hezekiah. Isaiah 38:4 says “The word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, ‘Go tell Hezekiah, “This is what the Yahweh, the God of your father David says: I have heard your prayer, seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city. This is Yahweh’s sign to you that Yahweh will do what He has promised: I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.’” And the sunlight went back the ten steps that it had gone down. Another great deliverance, deliverance from Assyria, and Hezekiah was also delivered from his personal problems. Yahweh did it. Yahweh, with such power that He could take the solar system and make it go backwards ten steps. An amazing thing out of the past, and that same God, Yahweh, has come for you and for me. He has come to deliver us from our fears, from sin, from death, from the devil, from everything that bugs you – Yahweh has come! That’s amazing!

Isaiah 45 is a great passage telling us about God’s control of the world; God’s rule of all heaven and earth. God says in verse 7, “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, Yahweh, do all these things.” The God that does all things, the God that created this world, the God that rules this world, the God that makes things happen, Yahweh, has come for you. A Person out of the past, the Person that did all those amazing things, He’s come for you and He says “Fear not, good news, great joy; I will pay for your sins, you will have forgiveness and I will never leave you, never forsake you. Yahweh is with us forever. The same great God that did those great things in the past, He’s here now and He’s here for you!