Sermon Notes, December 18, 2016
Rev.
Garry McGlinchy
Pastor
Garry continued Advent 2016, “We Believe,” with his fourth sermon, titled “Love:
That changed the World.” The scripture
reference was Luke 2:1-20, the Christmas story.
Every generation tells a story of how the world is really upside-down
and not how we would expect. Luke 2 is a
story like that. On the one hand, Caesar,
the Roman Emperor is in power. He utters a word and things begin to
happen. But this is not God’s
reality. Caesar is not in charge; God
is. It’s not human power that changes
the world; it is God’s love! And in
Christ, God’s love has changed the world.
Love has the power to change the world in three ways.
Love changes the world and gives us power (verses 11 & 14) Caesar looks powerful in this story. He simply speaks a word and people begin to
move. When a decree goes out from Caesar
Augustus, the world jumps to attention.
And one of those who jumped was Joseph.
The man is willing to travel with his very pregnant fiancée to abide by
the powerful word of Caesar Augustus.
There was a warning in Caesar’s decree.
But in the face of this reality comes another announcement: “Glory to
God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” This announcement follows the announcement of
the birth of the real king, the Messiah, Jesus.
Caesar
Augustus thinks he is displaying power across the Roman Empire; God is
displaying his power across the heavens.
In the 21st century, “Caesars” are all around us and they may
still have a form of power, but God has given a power of humility and
perspective to those who follow Jesus.
Caesar could create a law for taxation, but only God could set the
spirit free from the law of sin and death. In those days, a powerless woman went on
pilgrimage for Caesar with Jesus in the womb; now we go on pilgrimage
for Jesus with his Spirit in our hearts.
We rejoice because love has changed the world and gives us power!
Love changes the world and gives us pride and purpose (verses 18
& 20) Caesar thought he was doing a
work that would last—at least for awhile.
But as the empire reached and grew, more numbers needed to be taken so
that more taxes could be drawn. No doubt
there would be pride in those performing this important work of the empire, but
these are not the ones highlighted in our story. Instead, it is the shepherds. They receive the announcement and proceed to
investigate. Once seeing the sight, Luke
tells us that they returned. Returned to where? To the fields, to their work. On one hand, their work hadn’t changed. But on the other, everything was different. On the surface, the shepherds went back to
tending their sheep, but now their work
was charged with the glory and worship of God. These shepherds are not simply shepherds,
they were priests leading the worship of the people, and they were prophets,
speaking truth to the people. The
incredible thing about this is that we too can join in their pride and purpose regardless of official
title or role. In those days, the decree
of Caesar went out to all the world so that he
could take from us; in these days, the decree of God goes
out into all the world so that we
can partake in Him.
We rejoice because love has changed the world and has given us purpose!
Love changes the world and allows us to ponder (verse 19)
Caesar’s decree will give him strategic insight into his whole empire. The whole realm will have been counted and
the details arranged to enable Caesar to continue his dictatorship, just as
kings pondered war against other kings (Luke 14:31). So if Caesar Augustus ponders his own wealth
well enough, others will not make war against him.
Mary
sang that the exalted would be brought low, and the mighty arm of the Lord had
brought down the arrogant. Pride and
purpose had been given to the lowly, and power to the powerless. Perhaps the
most powerless person in this account, Mary is allowed to ponder. She treasures these
events and ponders them. It is not
Caesar’s pondering that matters, it is Mary’s.
And
now the message is given to us. We are
entrusted with the story of Jesus. It is
up to us to ponder, to make sense of our world, to see its battles as spiritual
warfare rather than flesh and blood. To
see the lonely as needing the family of God.
To see the broken as welcome into the healing power of Christ. The love of God in the birth of Jesus changed
the world. In those days it was Caesar
who was pondering his empire to see his vast rule. But in these days, it is God in Christ
empowering us to ponder the world as his partners in mission. We rejoice because love has changed the world
and makes us ponder!
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