https://youtu.be/4_ESkYkQ1Tg

The Message

Hallelujah, praise God!       What a glorious image.

Mary treasuring all those words and pondering them in her heart.

I too spent a lot of time pondering them.

I had no plan to use this passage for our message. But a couple months ago, I started asking friends if they would be willing to make room to host a worship service on December 21st.

Suddenly, like the sound of a heavenly host, my friend Mary Wilson told me she wanted to ring bells and had selected “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”.  Sadly Mary has been ill and wasn’t able to be here tonight, so please keep her in your prayres.

After she told me, I started pondering how to weave the theology of that song into our message for today. The lyrics are printed on the back of your bulletin if you’d like to review them. I’ll read verse 1:

Hark! the herald angels sing:
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"

Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With angelic hosts proclaim:

"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! the herald angels sing:
"Glory to the newborn King!"

As I treasured those lyrics, I realized the song was heavily based on Luke chapter 2.

As I prepared, I listened to various renditions of Hark! the Herald Angels Sing. I was amazed by the hundreds of versions, that others, who like Mary, had treasured these words.

I was also impressed by the wide range of styles, from whacky and wild, to holy and reverent.

One of my favorite renditions was by Rob Halford, the lead singer of the heavy metal band Judas Priest. You might know of them by their famous song Breaking the Law.

Anyway, hearing it in Rob’s voice was very unexpected because, they are one of the first heavy metal bands I liked. I even remember the night my heart opened to their music.

Unlike the shepherds, I was out at night tending to my addictions. Drunk, sitting in a friend’s car, waiting for him to score some pot, their CD was playing, and the wail of the guitar ignited something within me.

Maybe it was just the booze that loosened my spirit, but to this day I’m still enjoy Judas Priest.  

So, after hearing the song several dozen times, the lyrics really got into my head. I started wanting to know what a “Herald” is.

It made me think of a book I read titled The Witness of Preaching by Tom Long.

In the book, Tom, says a preacher plays three roles: the Herald, the Pastor and the Storyteller/Poet.

As a herald, the preacher is someone who proclaims God’s truths to others. Tom says,

“The preacher is the one who speaks the words of the sermon, but God actually does the proclaiming. The purpose of preaching, therefore, is not to provide a forum for the preacher to give moral advice, or to express opinions on important topics, or to lay out religious “principles for living”

but rather. to be the occasion for the hearing of a voice beyond the preacher’s voice: the very word of the living God. Preaching is not about the preacher; it is about the voice of God.

Wow, what a big call, (Pause) to be the occasion for us to hear the very word of the living God. I pray that this is an occasion for that.
In fact, let’s pause and pray.

Lord, the God who is ALIVE, extinguish any desire within me to preach anything not of You. Thank you for taking this once stupid and immature drunkard and using me in such a profound and glorious way.

May this mouth which once defiled you, now proclaim Your truth in such an illuminating way that we are all amazed, just as those shepherds were so long ago.

Help us hear the very message of Your herald angels. Reveal to us Christ, the Lord and Savior, and put in our hearts the depth of what that means. Amen

Well, to get us started on this journey, I looked at several dictionaries and found many meanings for the word “Herald”. From an official messenger, to giving notice, announcing, greeting with enthusiasm, publicizing, or even giving a foreshadow of things to come.

It seems all the definitions relate to this moment where the Angels announce the birth of Jesus. Especially the foreshadowing of things to come.

I mean, the angel had just proclaimed that a Savior who is the Messiah, the Lord had been born. That would have been BIG news. News that the world had been eagerly awaiting.

It made me think back to my childhood. Each week I eagerly awaited the arrival of the Sunday newspaper, the Omaha World Herald.

My reason for getting it wasn’t that I wanted news about what was going on in the world. I wanted it because I had a fascination with Stuff. And, the Sunday paper came with a thick section of sales ads.

An extravagant assortment of proclamations about the great deals on things I believed would bring me great joy.

I’d expectantly flip through the pages, dreaming about how fulfilled my life would be if I could only get this and that.

And you know, the Herald Angels were proclaiming something similar, only something much more profound and fulfilling.

The world had been anticipating that a Savior would come and fulfill the promises of God. He would fulfill our every desire.

Fulfill God’s promise to restore the world to the perfect place He had created to be.

The birth of Jesus was the beginning of a turning point. The start of the finish. The reverse of the curse.

And the world was eager with expectation.

Like me, eager for each Sunday to see what new deals would come.
Except, the wait for this announcement had been much longer.

People had been waiting 400 years.

God had been silent since the prophet Malachi.

If you don’t know, Malachi is God’s final Herald in the Old Testament.

His final proclamation to Isreal was both a warning and a hope.

It’s not an easy message.

So, I combed through my best resources looking for answers. I found one of the best helps in a YouTube video from the Bible Project.

It showed how Malachi was written shortly after the Israelites had rebuilt their broken nation. They had to rebuild due to their failures which had brought them to the most horrible place they could imagine.

• Exile.
• Abandoned by God.
• Left to struggle at the hands of their oppressors.

In a sad conclusion, the video illustrated how quickly the Israelites turned back to their broken ways. Soon after they rebuilt, they backslid.

It reminded me of all those years I spent chasing my addictions. I would hit a low place and determine to turn my life around, but it didn’t take long for me to backslide.

Often, I’d go from one low to an even lower place.

This history in Malachai showed that I’m not alone in this struggle. It’s an age old pattern that even God’s chosen people lived out.

It revealed how much we all need a Savior.
                          We’re not able recover by our own strength.

In fact, the Life Recovery Bible says, “Malachi preached to a nation of backsliders—people, who had relapsed. Even Spiritual Leaders had fallen into old, sinful patterns. As a result, they were suffering the consequences of economic depression, poor crops, and attacks of foreign marauders. Family life had dissolved, and divorce was rampant. The people’s religious lives were cold and empty.

Have you ever experienced that? You take a step in the right direction then find yourself in relapse? Like me, you’re not alone.

Think of this, the book of Malachi gave the people a message of hope. Even in their repeated failure, Malachi told of a future time of restoration. God was not done with them. There was a second chance.

Hear it now, Malachi 4:1-3

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.  But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.  And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

Now fast forward to Luke, the scene with shepherds out tending their flocks. And suddenly a host of angels appear. Based on Malachi’s proclamation, terrifying fear would be the appropriate response.

Remember, it said, And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

Instead, the Angel says Fear not.

Those words would have confused the shepherds because they were the ones considered the “evildoers”, the ones God would come to burn up.

You see, in those days, shepherds were despised by the people who consider themselves righteous.

You know, self-righteous folks like those of us who go to church regularly, who wear our Sunday best, who shine our shoes to impress and give a good offering.

The self-righteous looked down on shepherds and considered them unclean, lowly, rough, and even dangerous.

People like that couldn’t be worthy of God’s favor, right?

Yet, these are the very ones the Herald speaks these glorious and wonderful words to:

10 Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

You hear that? All people.

Ponder that, have you ever felt unworthy? Been despised and looked down upon?

Have you been unable to live up to God’s holy standard? Have you backslid, and repeatedly failed to be the best you can be?

Do you have some fear of God’s punishment being for you?

If so, this glorious news good tidings of great joy is also for YOU!

PAUSE

I want to read the first line of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, it goes:

"Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled"

Those words are an expansion of Luke 2:14 where the Angel says,  “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind.”

I wanted to know what Good Will means, so I did a little research and found this:

The Greek term for Godwill is εὐδοκία (eudokia). Eudokia expresses delight, good pleasure, favor, or benevolent intention.

In Scripture it most often speaks of God’s gracious disposition toward His redemptive purposes and toward those who are objects of His saving love.

And this is why the news from the Angels was so amazing. Even these despised shepherds where being offered God’s favor. They too had His gracious disposition and were objects of His saving love.

Verse three of Hark the Herald Angels, says it well:

Hail the Heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth

But did you notice the tie to Malachi?

Where it says: Ris’n with healing in his wings?

Doesn’t that sound like Malachi 4 verse 2 which says,

but for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

Now, news like that should cause anyone to leap for joy!

You know, I watched this farm show, and in one episode, they let cows who had been penned up all winter out into the field. Those massive cows leaped several feet into the air. It was impressive.

Those cows were excited to be free.

And that’s what this news should evoke in us. Through Christ we can be free. Free from sin, free from the sting of death, and free from the wrath of God.

But just like Malachi, the New Testament ends with a dire warning. The book of Revelation, the final book of the Bible reveals that an end will come.

God will wipe out this madness we’ve created. Our Evil will be locked away for good.

Yet the Good News which the Herald is announcing is that, for now, everyone has a chance to be part of God’s eternal kingdom. We are in the time of second chances.

God did not end the story with the Old Testament. He didn’t finalize his Good and Naughty list. He didn’t come to give gifts only to those who were righteous.

He came to be good for us. He came to offer the greatest gift of all.

Through Jesus, God offers us a free opportunity to be reconciled. Even though were all on the naughty list, God is ready to rip our name from it and call us good.

He is giving us a chance to confess our sin and repent of it.

PAUSE

I want to tell you about a favorite book. It’s titled Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams.  In it, Jay talks about his early days of counseling and tells of all his failures in truly helping people overcome their problems.

At first, he followed the wisdom of the world.
That model is to find blame. To work with a person to help them find out the external cause of their problem.

You might evaluate a person’s past and find that their mother neglected them, or that their father was not in the home and blame their condition on that.

Jay says that this model rarely works.

The model that does work, is the Biblical model of personal accountability. After he started helping his patients identify their role in their problems, that’s when people had profound change.

Only once a person was able to identify and confess their own sin were people able to correct their behavior and truly improve.

Now let me ask you something. When you’ve done something wrong, under which condition are you more likely to confess and then sincerely desire change?

Consider you are a child, and you’ve broken your mother’s cherished porcelain. Say you have a mother you know will be outraged even if you brought her the broken vase willing to confess. Would you want to show her what you’d done?

No, you’d be more inclined to put the broken pieces at the bottom of the trash and lie about it.

Now, consider you have a calm and understanding mother, a mother full of love and grace. Same scenario, broken vase. In this case I bet you’re more likely to approach her and confess your crime.

And I think this point is often missed in the Christmas story. This is a turning point in history. If you only read Malachi, you might think of God as an outraged parent ready to put the whoop down.

But then you turn to Luke, you find the image of a gentle and loving mother, ready to hold you in her arms, cradling you in comfort to take away your tears.

In that picture, I can hear the Angels as they proclaimed, peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.
Mary, a sinner, there cradling the perfect Son of God.

It takes me back to my younger years where I had turned to drinking and drugging for my joy.

I had turned my back on God. I thought of God as an angry dude who wanted to punish me for my sin, for not being good enough, for failing to live a righteous life.

I had become so flippant to God, so filled with rage and I found counsel in heavy music. In fact, a line in the song Heresy by Nine Inch Nails had become my anthem.

In an anti-Christian rage, singer Trent Reznor, virulently proclaims, God is Dead and No One Cares. If there is a hell, I’ll see you there.

What a horrible outlook.
It breaks my heart that many in the world still hold it. That songs like these even exist to corrupt the hearts and minds of others.

But I’ve been given a second chance and I’m here tonight proclaiming that God is not dead. God is ALIVE. He cares so much for you that He chose not to come in burning wrath, instead He came to announce great joy to everyone.

• To announce reconciliation between God and sinners.

As someone who has experienced this reconciliation, I want to tell you that it is the only thing that will fulfill the yearning of your soul.

It’s not the things of this world. No drug, no person, no experience, no shiny object, nothing will satisfy your yearning.
Only God’s unrelenting love can complete you.

So, if you haven’t already accepted this gift from God, I’m urging you this glorious night to gladly receive it from God. That’s all it takes; you just have to accept it and treasure it.

This gift of God’s favor.
This gift of Gods redeeming love towards you.

(This is where I walk over to the manger)

It goes even farther than that image of a mother cradling her tender baby. This scene invites you, the object of God’s tender love, to take the very Creator of all, into your own embrace? Will you embrace the God who came into the world not in the comfort of an inn or palace, but in the feeding place so that He might be our nourishment? Or, will you turn Him away and choose the comfort of your place in the palace?

Neil lights the Christ Candle

This is the time in worship where we would normally take communion together. Instead, I’d like to do something a little different. All of you should have received a pencil and slip of paper. If you need one, please raise your hand and we’ll bring you one.

What I’d like us all to do is take a few moments to commune with God. Consider where you need God to give you help and strength. Be honest with God. Confess anything that needs confessed. Ask what needs to be asked.

Write it down. Get it out. Give it to God.

Then what we’re going to do is come forward to the table.
Each of you should have a light.

Turn it on. There is a little switch on the bottom.

Bring that light with you and place it on the table. On the table are two baskets. One is for those of you who have confessed and want Christ to take it away.

• You can take your paper and tear it up.

The other basket is for those who want to leave your need or praise with God. You can place your paper in that basket and I will collect them later and pray over them.

Then as you leave, there are other baskets where you can leave an offering.

As we sit for the next few minutes, I’m going to play a favorite song of mine which is also based off a verse in the Malachi, the song is He Shall Purify which is from the famous work of music by composer Handle, Messiah.

First let me read from Malachi 3, verses 2 thru 4

2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like washers’ soap; 

3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 

4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years.

As we sit and offer our confessions to God.

Think on that.

Through the fire, God will purify us.