Scripture referenced 5 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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John 3:16-17 read as the fourth Advent candle lighting, the candle of love
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
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Keep this verse
Luke 2:8-14
the primary sermon text, the angels announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds
8 There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
9 Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people.
11 For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.”
13 Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.”
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Luke 2:15-20
the shepherds respond to the angelic message, go to Bethlehem, find the baby, and spread the news
15 When the angels went away from them into the sky, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough.
17 When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child.
18 All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.
20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.
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Isaiah 53
referenced briefly during communion, 'by your stripes, by your blood, Lord, we are healed'
1 Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.
4 Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth.
8 He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
9 They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I give him a portion with the great, and he will divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
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Ephesians 4:32
quoted near the close, 'forgive one another just as God in Christ has forgiven you,' as the only method for peace
32 And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
On the Sunday before Christmas 2015, the pastor preached from Luke 2:8-14, the angels' announcement to the shepherds. He focused most of the sermon on a single phrase in that announcement and what it actually means, then closed with the Lord's Supper as the natural response to the message.
What was said
The angels' song divides into two parallel halves: glory to God in heaven, and peace on earth to men. The pastor noted that the parallelism is a Hebrew rhetorical pattern, so "in the highest" means heaven, not simply the most superlative degree of glory. The glory belongs to God because He has made peace possible, and that is what the angels are announcing.
The phrase "peace on earth, goodwill toward men" carries a persistent textual question that runs through church history. One Greek manuscript tradition ends the relevant word without a final sigma, making it a nominative noun. Another tradition includes the sigma, making it a genitive adjective. That single letter is why older translations read "goodwill toward men" while most modern versions read something like "peace to those on whom His favor rests."
To show that this question has real weight, the pastor brought in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Christmas Bells," written on Christmas Day 1863. Longfellow had recently lost his wife in a fire and his son in the Civil War, and the poem moves from hearing the familiar carol, through despair that hatred mocks the song of peace, and finally to faith recovering itself: "God is not dead nor doth He sleep, the wrong shall fail, the right prevail." The poem does not resolve the violence around Longfellow; it chooses to trust anyway.
The pastor walked through more than a dozen translations to let the two readings stand side by side. His conclusion was that both are true and both must be held together. God has extended a universal and effective call to all people, as the angel says directly: "great joy which will be to all people." At the same time, peace settles on those who receive it, those on whom God's favor rests. He quoted his seminary president: "It seems easier to go to a consistent extreme than to stay at the center of biblical tension." He noted that John Calvin himself held the "goodwill toward men" reading, covering all people, which cuts against the assumption that the genitive reading is simply a Calvinist translation.
The sermon then turned to the shepherds as the biblical model for what to do once a message like this has been delivered. They did not say "let us go see if this thing has come to pass." They received the message as true, went with haste, found exactly what the angel described, and then told everyone around them. They returned to work glorifying God for what they had heard and seen, holding both the word they had trusted and the experience that confirmed it.
The pastor tied that directly to the Lord's Supper. The same baby lying in the manger was the man who died on the cross, and communion is the ongoing proclamation of that death until He comes again. He described the table as open to anyone who believes the message the angels brought, that God's goodwill is extended to end the war between God and man, and he closed by pointing the congregation toward the peace they have received as something to carry outward.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor described a 'persistent question' that Christians have wrestled with for centuries: can there really be peace on Earth? What persistent questions do you carry about your own faith, and how do you sit with them?
- The sermon looked at two different ways to read the angels' announcement, either 'goodwill toward men' broadly, or 'peace to those on whom God's favor rests.' How does each reading land with you personally, and do you think the tension between them has to be resolved?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,172 words
0:00
Good morning, everybody. How are y'all? Great. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you.
0:06
The slides that we had up with the merry Christmas with all the snow blowing. I looked outside and it was blowing worse than that. I thought, that never happens where I'm from. Never. So, Georgia, we don't get a whole lot of snow but when we do, we really appreciate it.
0:18
So, would you stand up and join us and we're going to sing Joy to the World. Hymn number two seventy, if you want to find your parts parts but I have a feeling that all of you know this one. So, Amen. There's some things I just get drawn into singing the bass part. Oh, I'm sorry.
2:14
It didn't happen till the very end. Oh, little town of Bethlehem. First time I've heard this one this season. It's a beautiful Y'all can have a seat. Got a few announcements this morning.
4:59
There are a few tags left out out on the angel tree out there and on those two cardboard mounts that are outside. If you would like to grab a few of those, that'd be great.
5:09
We
5:12
had kind of someone call in Lori McEwen actually called in late and she had some folks that could could use a little bit of help and so we added a few tags to the tree. If you'd like to help, you may do that. That's the first one. Celebrating Christmas at First Baptist. It feels like we have been celebrating it for some time now.
5:30
We have, last night, we had about a 100, I'm guessing. How many? Christian? 80? Okay.
5:38
Evangelical estimate there. 80. So, I don't know how you counted all of em because they're running all over the building. It was great. We had Spanish mostly in Spanish translated backwards into English but last night and that was fantastic.
5:54
Christian is kind of the pastor of the Spanish church that meets here, Spanish speaking church that meets here on one hundred thirty on Sunday afternoons. We're not doing that today because we did that last night. We're not doing it today but Christmas Eve services, there'll be at 04:30 and six. There'll be a contemporary Christmas candlelight celebrations led by First Bees Band. Come and join in one of these.
6:15
Now, last year, we did it where 04:30, it was the band leading and then at six, it was the choir doing a special. This year, both of em are gonna be the same with the band leading all of em. 04:30 and six, come if you, come if you will. Bring whoever you want. We will hopefully have plenty of room.
6:31
If not, we'll be overflowing. It'll be great. Christmas caroling tonight, December 20. That is tonight and you see the hay out here already stacked up. We'll flip the snow off of it before we go but we have two trailers and we're right around town and do Christmas caroling from 04:30 until 05:30 or six or so and we'll come back and have our annual buzzard breath chili cook off and enjoy supper here.
6:57
So, about six is when that will get going and Renzi is the emcee for that event. There will not be any Solid Rock Youth Ministry stuff going on over the Christmas holiday. So, enjoy your family and merry Monday nights at first B. That's still happening. Every Monday night, we have that service.
7:16
Paul Paul, Carl, the other guy, associate pastor Carl, has been preaching through Philippians but he I think he's going to do a Christmas message tomorrow. So, Monday nights at First B, meal music and a message, maybe some leftover pozole but I doubt it because we're going to eat it tonight. And we have this morning, our fourth advent candle to light and here come Chris and Nick Staren to light this one.
7:46
Alright. So we thought it was great that the two single guys would light the love candle tonight. This is good. Very appropriate. Lots of love.
7:56
Lots of love. Lots of love. So today, we light the fourth candle on our on Advent wreath, the candle of love. God's inexpressible love was demonstrated in
8:06
the sending of his son. His son has led
8:09
to our salvation. We respond by loving and living for him.
8:13
And the verse is John three sixteen through 17. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that for whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to love the world through him.
8:27
Amen. Amen.
8:35
Merry Christmas, everybody.
8:37
Merry Christmas. Alrighty. How about standing up and just greeting one another and see if you can find somebody you don't know. Give em a hug and a handshake or a high five. Do you all know this song, The Birthday of a King?
11:47
It's not happy birthday to Jesus, okay? Mean, you could sing that but this is not this song, the birthday of a king. If the choir sings their parts from last year, I'm going to be singing with you. So, let's try to sing the melody as much as we can. Y'all can have a seat.
13:39
If I could get the frontline team to come forward. Thank you, Judy for playing. Thank you. I'm gonna invite also Ellie Tolson up and she is gonna play a duet with Judy. Lord God, would you please bless this offering, lord?
13:56
We ask that it would reach to the last soul here in Jackson, lord. Would you use this church and the resources that are given this church to reach people in this valley? God, but would you extend that beyond this whole into this whole region, to this whole country, into this whole world. Lord, we ask that you would multiply the gifts that are given to extend to the furthest reaches of the earth. Jesus, we wanna tell your story of your birth, your life, your death, and your resurrection.
14:30
In Jesus name, lord, would you bless this offering? Amen. Amen. Thank you too. Well, merry Christmas.
16:43
This is this is fun. I think at Easter, somebody several people have reminded me that I said that being a preacher on Easter is like playing in the Super Bowl and so Christmas is actually probably even a little bit more than that. I I have been praying about what to preach and you know, we're in the last two chapters of Corinthians but Paul's angry tirade for the last two chapters of Corinthians is is godly and holy as it is. I didn't wanna do that today. So, we are pulling away from second Corinthians and going into a passage that most of you expected.
17:14
When you got up to come to church this morning, you expected at some point, you would hear Luke two. I'm sure Luke two eight through 14 and we last night at the Fiesta Navi Dania, we used this passage and it's something that you've probably heard on Christmas cards or on the radio, you've heard a lot of this read. I'm gonna stick to the last half of one verse for most of this sermon but I wanna read it. I want to give you the context too. Y'all know how I love context.
17:41
So, Luke two eight and fourteen gives us the setting. It gives us what came to pass. So, now, there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night and behold, an angel of the Lord. Now, I highlight the word angel right there. Angel, Angelas, and Greek means messenger.
18:02
That's what it means. So, in the same sense, somebody who carries a message is a messenger. So, in that sense, I'm an angel but in only that sense, I'm an angel. These are different than I am but an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shown around them and they were greatly afraid. Then, the angel, another reference right there, the messenger, Angalasta, angel of the Lord, said to them, do not be afraid.
18:29
Every single time you see angels in scripture, they have to tell people not to be because it's scary. It's sometimes it's scary to receive a message from God and I realized that. The angel said to them, do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you great good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a savior, who is Christ the Lord.
18:53
And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly, there was with the angel, messenger, okay? With the messenger that was proclaiming this and he apparently appeared out of nowhere and we know that because of this next thing and suddenly, there was with this angel, a multitude of the heavenly host. So, this is not just any old guy that wandered in, some tall guy from Southern Jerusalem that wandered in with a message.
19:20
No. He is an angel from heaven. It's a supernatural being and right there where it says, and a multitude of heavenly host were praising God and they were saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men. Would you pray with me? Lord, just as I said this morning, would you help this sermon to make sense?
19:46
For every single person in this room, lord, would you just help this to make sense, to make it click for them, lord and for me. In Jesus name, amen. So, I've studied this. I know what I'm, I know what I wanna convey but some of it, I actually was telling somebody earlier in the week who was just happened to be a victim passing by the office and I said, I don't wanna come across as being like, oh yeah, I've studied this stuff thoroughly and I know I know better than y'all. I said, I don't ever wanna come across as being this erudite, you know, grammar snob.
20:20
And they said it would be hard with your accent. But she said and I said, I don't wanna come across that way. And she said, well, this is the deal. We don't want you to come across that way either. But we do want for you to study that hard.
20:35
I said, alright. Fair enough. So, this one's an interesting one to me and it it had me thinking all week and had me pray and I was waking up in the middle of the night from time to time thinking about the message that the angel carried and this phrase took out. You remember last year, maybe in the year before, I think it was last year, the choir cantata we had. Listen to the angels sing was one of the tunes.
20:55
I woke up singing that a couple times this week. Listen to the angels sing and so this is what they were singing. Glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace, goodwill toward men. So, the, I'm gonna say the part that we understand, I feel like almost all scholars agree on.
21:11
Although some of them have it wrong and I've heard plenty of sermons where they missed the point a little bit on this but it's not a huge contention. Glory, God, and heaven. The highest, sometimes people say, glory in the highest like the the most superlative glory ever belongs to God and that's true but that's not what this verse says or they might say, God in the highest like God is the most almighty. He's above every other god and biblically, that's true too but that's not what this verse is saying either. Glory to God in the highest means literally, glory to God in heaven and we know that because they're parallel structures.
21:47
It's a very Hebrew way of speaking although it is in Greek but the parallelism here is like this, glory to the God of heaven because and it doesn't have the because in there but glory to God of heaven and on earth, peace to men. So, it's contrasting these two states. Heaven and Earth, God and man, and the glory is because he has given the opportunity at peace. Ain't that great? God has given the opportunity at peace and because of that, he is to be glorified.
22:23
Now, what the angel said right here is glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill to men. That's the way that most of us grew up here in that. That's the New King James version. That's the one that I grew up with. You might have grown up with the old King James version and that's that's fine too but glory to God in the highest and on earth.
22:41
Peace, goodwill, demands. It's just such a beautiful song. The parallelism there leaves me with this though. The peace and men and earth. Is it peace toward men from God and and it is or is it peace among men?
22:59
Some translations say that and so as I started looking, I always start with the Greek but there's a persistent question here and this is why I prayed for it to make sense for you. I see some squinting already going on. Do you have persistent questions? I think that when Christians throughout the ages have persistent questions, a lot of times they're founded because of the way that we understand scripture and in very very rare occasions, it's because of something that is like this.
23:29
I just wanna say.
23:30
Sorry, not that. Do you have persistent questions? Can there really be peace on Earth? Will there ever really be peace on Earth? If the angels were broadcasting this or transmitting this two thousand years ago, almost two thousand years ago.
23:50
A little over two thousand years ago. They're broadcasting this truth. Peace on earth, goodwill towards men. Now, if you read any of the modern versions, it says, peace on those with whom God shows his favor or peace to those in whom God is pleased? That's a persistent question, and there's a reason for it.
24:11
I I've got one little video clip right here that I wanna show you. And this, to me, I thought of this over and over in the last couple weeks.
24:17
Wanna say, you know, can we can we all get along? Can we can we get along? Can we stop making it making it horrible for for the for the older people and the and the and the kids?
24:35
Can we all get along? Now, in the first service I asked, have you all read an Internet meme lately, like a poster on the Internet that says, can't we all just get along? And it's a cat fighting with a dog or something silly. It's can we all just get along? Y'all are not the internet crowd.
24:48
It's looking like I'm getting a lot of blank stares. Can we all get along? And that's a question and I think that's one the most sincere things. Now, that guy, Rodney King, was guilty of an offense. He was guilty Before God and man, before the LAPD, he was guilty of what he was charged of but when the police finally were able to stop him after a high speed chase, they beat him.
25:10
Now, they were probably guilty of something too. They didn't know what was going on but there was no love and peace in that relationship but he had a very sincere question. That was during or slash after during the LA riots that were caused by police beating a man for an offense that he did actually do. And his question was, can we all get along? And it was on tears.
25:34
Could you hear his voice shaking? Can we all get along? That's what he wants. Black and white, we wanna get along. What he's, I I take that as almost a prayer for peace on Earth.
25:43
That's what he's wanting but we don't see that, do we? When we look around, we don't see peace on Earth. Right now, The Middle East is all kinds of out of shape. The Cold War is cranking back up. We've got all kinds of situations where peace is not in the mix.
25:58
It's just war in varying degrees. Yet, we're still proclaiming peace on Earth. Goodwill to men. Is it just for some? That's the other way of looking at this and we'll get into the grammar of that in just a minute.
26:13
I think that the next thing is this, is it peace on Earth? We're screaming out or is it peace on Earth? Like that? Or maybe in tarot bang? Peace on Earth?
26:26
An excited question. I'm going to leave it up to you and just kind of leave it open. Peace on Earth and consider this. Consider this message. Consider this message not so much this messenger.
26:37
The angelic message. Paschal, do you wanna recite this? Can you come up to this microphone right here? It'll probably pick you up but sorry. You don't have to read it.
26:58
You can recite it if you want to, or you can read it either way.
27:02
Christmas bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I heard the bells on Christmas day, their old familiar carols play, and wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth, goodwill to men. And thought how, as the day had come, the belfries of all Christendom had rolled along the unbroken song of peace on earth, goodwill to men. Till ringing, singing on its way, the world revolved from night to day. A voice, a chime, a chant sublime, of peace on earth, goodwill to men.
27:36
Can you hold on right there, Pascal? Now this was written in 1863. It's in the middle of the civil war. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's son signed up without him knowing and went to serve in the civil war, union soldier, and he had been killed a month or so before this. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's wife had died in a house fire just a little bit before that.
28:02
So, he's writing this song and he's hearing the bells on Christmas day. He literally wrote it on Christmas day and he thought of this and so far so good. These are the verses we usually sing but she's going to go on. Go ahead.
28:19
Then from the black accursed mouth, the cannon thundered in the South and with the sound, the carols drowned of peace on earth, goodwill to men. It was as if an earthquake rent the hearthstones of a continent and made forlorn the households born of peace on earth, goodwill to men. And in despair, I bowed my head. There is no peace on earth, I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth. Goodwill to men.
28:46
Hold it right there. So are y'all getting the depth of this with a man who's just lost his wife? He's just lost his son, and he's looking around at war. And he says, from these hearth stones of a continent. Now, from the time that he was born, he knew Christianity.
29:06
He's a Christian. Read his poems. It's all over and everywhere. He says, the hearthstones of a continent were rent just like an earthquake. It ripped apart everything in this country and he's right and it made for lorn.
29:19
It cast a long long shadow on what he had grown up with. Peace on earth, goodwill to man. Christianity, Christ ruling in his life, his family's life. The households born. When he was born into this peace on earth thing and then all of a sudden, everything's coming apart at the seams.
29:36
The household's born of peace on earth, goodwill to men and then, he bows his head. There is no peace on earth. I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song. Do y'all feel that? Do you feel it that hatred among people groups is so vehement?
29:56
That it mocks the song that the angels are singing about peace. So, the last verse is where faith kicks back in.
30:05
Then peel the bells more loud and deep. God is not dead nor doth he sleep. The wrong shall fail. The right prevail. With peace on earth, good will come in.
30:15
Thank you. Thank you very much. She had to memorize. That's a little impromptu. Thank you.
30:28
The wrong shall fail and the right prevail. Faith kicked back in for him. What he had found at his mother's knee, he had to trust was true and he, you know, the song becomes big later on but he closed out with a hopeful chorus. Does that make sense? He closes it out with hope.
30:49
Peace on Earth. Hey, happy. Peace on Earth. Question mark. The reason that I leave it open to you is because very seldom but occasionally, we have biblical texts where there are textual variants.
31:03
So, if you look at this as a persistent question that has gone on through the ages, it's something that we wanna know what exactly was it that the angels were singing because the version that I grew up with is not the version that I read today in most modern versions but not all and I wanna just hit it straightforward. So, this is Greek to me. It's actually it's Greek to you too. So is this. So do you see the difference between that and that?
31:34
The difference in that and that is that. It's a sigma at the end of a sentence. Just one little letter. That's it. Sigma and it makes a difference.
31:45
Grammatically, it makes a big difference and so that's why we have two major lines of thinking in this scripture. What the angels actually saying. I I feel pretty strongly about one of em. I won't tell you which. I'll let you decide but the the angel singing the birth of Jesus is a heavy, heavy thing, incredible joy, unspeakable joy.
32:08
They're singing about. Are they singing this or are they singing that? Well, that's the difference and for you grammar nerds, I know there are several of you in here. The one without the sigma is nominative so it makes it a noun and the one with the sigma is genitive which makes it an adjective which makes a big difference in Luke two fourteen. It is either this, nominative, which is translated in the old King James version coming from the Texas receptus tradition.
32:38
Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. That's the one that I'm used to. That's the one I'm used to from I heard the bells on Christmas day. It's the one that resonates with me. I I love that.
32:50
The new King James says, glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace, goodwill toward men. Did you know there was a King James purple letter edition? When you study, you come up with all kinds of crazy stuff. Glory to God in purple and if it was angel, it'd be a different color purple and if it was something else, it would be a different color purple.
33:08
I'm not joking. The King James purple letter edition says, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. If we go to this other one, the genitive one, it it it sounds like this and these are mostly modern versions but not all modern versions stick to this. So, listen to em though and listen to how it sounds. That first one was, okay, we have a broken relationship with God since Adam.
33:33
We've had a broken relationship with God and God, though we are at war with him, he extends peace, goodwill toward man. He extends peace on earth, goodwill toward man and I think that's great. Listen to the modern versions. Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. Does that stick with you a little bit?
33:56
It's peace to some of you, not all of you. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. That's the ESV and so, I know some of you feel strongly one way or the other about the whole Calvinist Armenian debate. This is something that is very interesting looking at just that little sigma, how much difference it can make in what it says. Glory to God in the highest on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased.
34:26
Glory to God in the highest. Heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. That's the New Living Translation. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men with whom he is pleased. That's the new American standard.
34:37
Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace to Earth. Peace on Earth to people he favors. That feels like it's getting worse, doesn't it? That's a very modern. That's a couple of three, four, five years old.
34:48
Holman Christian Standard Versions, New Southern Baptist Version and it's because of that stigma. It's not like they're trying to push an agenda one way or another. I'm just telling you, it's because of what text you go from. Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace among those whom he favors. New revised standard.
35:05
That's older, same kind of translation. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men in whom he is well pleased. American Standard Version. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men men on whom his favor rest. I like this one.
35:22
The Udokeia, that Udokeus in this count. I like that. God's favor resting on people is what brings us peace. We are at war with ourselves, with others, and with God until we find our peace with God. Now, it is his moving.
35:40
It is his extension of goodwill towards man that makes this possible. Both of these things are true biblically. They're held intention but both of em are true. That's the Berean Study Bible. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men and whom he's well pleased.
35:56
It's the ERV. This one is obviously a messianic Jewish institute for scripture research, the scriptures. They use all of the names of God as they're found. Esteem to Elohim in the highest and on earth, peace among men with whom he is pleased. What pleases God?
36:17
Think about that. What is it that pleases God? So, we're at war with God. He extends peace in Jesus Christ. What pleases God?
36:29
Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to people who enjoy his favor. I like that one too. International Standard Version. I like all these actually because they are good translations of what was up there. They're slightly different.
36:41
All of those. Now, just so you know, I'm not happy with absolutely everything. I wanna go to the Darby Bible Translation. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good pleasure in men. They missed that one.
36:54
Just completely missed that. Blew that one. That's there's no way grammatically you can figure that one out and it actually made it onto the press. There's another one, the Dua Rheims Bible. New Testament came out 1582.
37:06
Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace good, peace to men of goodwill. That one misses two, okay? So, it is either one or the other of those first two and I would argue that biblically, both of them are true. Absolutely true. That context though for me makes it lean one direction.
37:25
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men, New King James. Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rest. Amen. So, just in case your blood is boiling about how Calvinistic that second part sounded. I can see it.
37:45
I can feel it. I want you to see that it's not. It can't be because of the context that's not overly Calvinistic. It is stating a truth. Blessed are those and peace have those upon whom God's favor has rested.
38:01
Amen. Do y'all agree with me? You don't know yet. That's why it goes. Read this, do not be afraid, the angel said, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
38:13
It is an effective and universal call for absolutely everyone. He's saying it will be great joy, good news for all people. Now, will all people accept it? No. Sadly, no.
38:29
But it is for all people. So, you can extend the call and believe it because it's real. In God's sovereignty, he's made a way for us to make a decision. Baffles the mind. The parallelism there that I mentioned, glory to God in the highest, it has to be heaven, okay?
38:48
I already mentioned that. Glory to God in heaven and peace on earth, goodwill to men. It's a good translation. There's also peace on earth to men whom God loves. That's also a good translation.
39:00
Both of those things are true. But they hold this intention. So, we've got the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. I don't think anybody would argue that God's not sovereign. And I don't think anybody anybody in truth looking at the whole biblical text would argue that man's not responsible.
39:23
There are two things that have to be held in tension. This is my seminary, my one of the presidents at my seminary. I quote this all the time when people come in with questions. It seems easier to go to a consistent extreme than to stay at the center of biblical tension. The Bible holds God's love and his wrath intention.
39:45
It holds his justice and his mercy intention. It holds his sovereignty and our responsibility intention. Biblical tension is where this lies and I think that the reason there's a persistent question here, for one thing, it's in the text, depending on the sigma or not. It's very interesting that Calvin actually you know, John Calvin, the whole Calvinist following after Calvin. Calvin actually believed that it was goodwill toward men, all men.
40:16
That's pretty cool. The new translations are not wrong and not all the new translations agree with that second rendering I gave you. Both of these things are true and we need to hold on to em. So, my job and my goal up here on Sunday mornings in my office during the week is to preach and teach God's goodwill and his sovereignty to whosoever is willing to responsibly receive it, okay? Just right there trying to walk the razor's edge of that tension.
40:47
So, do you have persistent questions? Do you have some persistent theological questions or have you settled them all? In your mind, you know exactly where you stand. Or are there some persistent questions that are still out there? I'm a little more comfortable with ambiguity than most people and I realize that.
41:06
Once this message has been delivered though, either way, either way, if it's God has extended his goodwill to you all or God's favor is going to rest on those who receive his message. Either one of those things. What is it that you do with a message like this? So, the angels brought this message to the shepherds. I'm bringing this message to you that it is an effective and universal call for everyone of you.
41:37
If you would accept it. By God's design under his sovereignty. That's the way he made. He provided a savior and we talk a lot about Jesus's birth and angels sang of his birth for this very reason because God has made a way possible. Will you accept it?
41:55
What do you do with a message like this once it's been delivered? And I'll just say, it's not 12:00 but it's been delivered. This is the message right here. We've got communion to come but I wanna look also at what the shepherds did because that's our biblical example for what they did when they received the message, okay? Luke 15 to two fifteen to 20 says this, so it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that says that they are supernatural beings.
42:21
It's not just somebody that's wandered in and passed along a message. The heavenly messengers, when they had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, let us now go to Bethlehem. They got up and they did something about it. And see this thing that has come to pass. They didn't question it.
42:42
Whether it had come to pass or not. They just received the message from an angel of God, a messenger of heaven. They received it and they believed it. It didn't say, let us go see if this thing has come to pass. Does that make sense?
42:56
That's a big difference. They received the message as if it were true. They trusted it which the Lord has made known to us. They trusted in the divine nature of the message. God is the one who is revealing it.
43:09
I pray that in my job up here that what I'm doing is taking a message from God and delivering and then it's up to you to put your faith in the message, not the messenger but the message which the Lord has made known to us and they came with haste and they found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. Now, what did the angel say they were going to find? Ahead of time? That seems a little like predestination. Oh, that's uncomfortable.
43:38
No. He told them where they were going to find the baby and what it was going to be wrapped in because, you know, in a town that size, they might had two or three babies but the only one of em was going to be lying in a manger. That's what the angel wanted. The content of the message is really, really important. What they say?
43:54
They found that babe lying in a manger. Now, when they had seen him, they saw Jesus because they trusted the message. When they saw him, they made widely known the saying which was told to them. So, they received the message, they acted on it, made a decision to go, went, saw exactly what the angel said would happen, what God's message had said, and then they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child. So, effectively, once they met Jesus, they told other people about him.
44:28
And all those who heard it marveled at the things which were told to them by the shepherds that caused other people to marvel but Mary kept these things and she pondered them in her heart and Luke who wrote this had talked to Mary. He investigated the situation. He's a good historian. He talked to Mary about it who had pondered these things and hid them in her heart and then, the shepherds returned back to work, glorifying God, and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen. So, that's experience.
45:00
This is another one of those things. You can have dogma on one side but you've got your experience on the other and if your dogma is getting in the way of your experience, that's a problem. It's a problem. You've gotta hold those things together. They believe the word.
45:15
That's the dogmatic side of things but they also had the experience that went with it. Brings it back and balances it out. They were glorifying and praising God because of the things that they had heard and seen just as it was told them. So, that's what they did with the message. What would you do with it?
45:33
Do you have a persistent question? Do you have something that is nagging at you that was like, I don't really know if I've answered that question. In fact, there's a lot of hyper on both ends of this spectrum and there are a lot of lobbying grenades back and forth. There is no peace on Earth, I said. These things have to be held in tension and I want good biblical arguments from both sides for sure but the tension right there is good, really, really good that God has made a universal extended call and then once you've experienced it, all of those Calvinistic verses make sense.
46:14
They make sense from the side of time. God is outside of time, people. He spoke it into being and so when we look at these things and we bring them together, it looks like to me, wow. God, just keep me right where you want me. Remember the proverb?
46:31
Where I want to be lord, have just enough where I'm not tempted to steal but not so much that I forget about you. Balance is good. So, listening to the angels sing, God has issued through the message of these angelic messengers and through this very human when I pray. An effective call. It's an invitation to have his favor rest on you.
46:55
He's designed this. He's made it this way and he wants for that to take place. He's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to a saving knowledge of him. It's an invitation of his favor rest on you. Universal call to experience God's peace on earth through his son, Jesus.
47:16
Sadly, not all will respond favorably. The Bible says that that's the case. But that does not change the effectiveness of the call to you. So, it's up to you. This message has been delivered like I said.
47:30
Now, we're about to go into a time for those who have put their faith in Christ to celebrate his sacrificial death, his broken body, his shed blood for sin. We're going into that right now. And I would say that it is as simple as belief. It is as simple as exercising your faith and putting it in him. He is the one who has promised to do the work but it requires you turn into him.
47:56
It does by his design. So, if this is the first time, if you've never celebrated communion before or you've done it as the Bible says unworthily where you didn't really believe it but you just did it because. If if you believe the message that those angels brought, that God's goodwill is extended to you to end the war. You're welcome to take from this cup and from this spread. So, would you pray with me?
48:25
And I get the ushers to come forward and Judy, would you come up and play something pretty, please? So God, as we distribute this bread, may each one of us consider that that same little baby that was born in a stable, lay down in the manger as his crib. That same innocent little baby was the same man who hung innocent and pure on the cross. No other person has lived a life like that. No other person has ever lived a life from cradle to death with no sin.
49:16
And that benevolent, good, loving, sovereign, but having emptied himself for our sake. God, my mind boggles to think of Jesus, completely innocent, giving his life perfection for my very imperfect one. So, God, would you please bless this bread as we consider your life from that manger and that stable and that night when this message was delivered up until the time, lord, when you cried out, it is finished. On the cross. For father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
49:56
Surely, today, you will be with me in paradise. As we consider your life and your broken body, lord, amen. And on the same night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread after supper and after having given thanks, he blessed and he said, this is my body which is given for you. Take this and eat and do this in remembrance of me. Lord, in considering your body, this bread as a symbol of it, seeing that, Lord, I think of your life well lived.
53:13
But your blood, Lord, I see just as Isaiah saw that by your stripes, by your blood, Lord, we're healed. And so, God, I thank you for Jesus' blood shed on the cross, innocent blood for the cleansing of guilty sinners. So, lord, as we consider this cup, we pass it out. May the gravity of it rest on us, lord, and realizing that as we partake in this and as we share in his blood, lord. God, may it just rest on us that it's because of that that your favor rest on us, not the symbol, but his actual shed blood, the perfect life.
53:59
In Jesus name, would you bless this distribution of this cup? Amen. Supper and he said that this is the new covenant in my blood. The new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink and each time you do, do it in remembrance of me.
57:22
Amen. So, at Christmas, we're proclaiming the birth of Jesus. Paul says, that as we do this, this Lord's table, Lord's supper, communion, whatever you wanna call it. Paul says that as often as we do this, we proclaim Jesus's death until he comes again. So, we're looking forward to that next advent.
57:41
We're looking forward to Christmas Eve and the services, everything here commemorating his first coming but we're looking forward to that second coming. So, let's keep on proclaiming it. Now, young Stan, if you would and we'll sing. One more song. It's We're just going to sing one verse.
58:07
It came upon the midnight certain solemn stillness that people are carrying that don't know Jesus. The Middle East peace process is ultimately doomed unless Jesus is in. I hate to say it and I say it with a tear in my eye but forgive one another just as God in Christ has forgiven you is the only method for peace. Grace, grace, God's grace. In Jesus name, would you go and spread that peace that you enjoy from God's favor resting on you.
59:21
Amen.
Topics
Angels ChristmasBible Translation DifferencesCan We All Get AlongCommunion MeaningGod'S FavorPeace On Earth
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