Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20051225.htm

SPECIAL CHRISTMAS INTERLUDE Gaining God's Christmas "Peace On Earth" Part IV: Gaining God's "Peace On Earth" Over Relationship Problems (Luke 2:4-20 et al.)
Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

This Christmas Day, when we recall the message of the angels to the Bethlehem shepherds of "Peace on earth among men of God's favor," many experience a LACK of peace in various relationships:

(1) A family in our Church a week ago visited a relative who is a devout Roman Catholic as he was in the hospital on a respirator near death. When the man's wife called for their priest to come and pray for him, the priest came only after she agreed to pay him a $30 fee to perform an anointing ritual. This demand is not only unbiblical, but seemed heartless at this Christmas Season when ministers of all people are expected to be charitable toward others! As you can imagine, this event was upsetting to this family in our church!

Yet, tension building events like this are repeated many times over on days like today when Bible believing Christians mix with associates of other religious beliefs.

(2) At times the problem is fueled by ungodly activity committed by Evangelicals themselves: Tracey O'Shaughnessy of the Waterbury, Connecticut Republican-American, a reporter who is not an Evangelical, wrote in a recent article, "Talk but not walk the faith" about the "hypocrisy" of some Evangelical megachurches. Though they have preached against the secular world's use of "Happy Holidays'" in place of "Merry Christmas,'" these megachurches have canceled their worship services for Christmas Sunday so as not to inconvenience their people! Tracy expressed her strong disapproval of this move, calling it "ugly inconstancy" by "sanctimonious whiners" who teach others "it's more important to stay at home and stuff their faces with fruitcake than to be inconvenienced by sacred worship."

(3) However, problem relationships exist even between fellow Christians. I recently communicated with a believer who explained via an e-mail message: "I don't feel . . . comfortable with my true family."

No, she was not referring non-Christian kin, but those extended family members who professed to know Jesus Christ as their Savior!

So, this Christmas Day, HOW does God's "Peace on Earth among men of God's favor" announced by the heavenly angels to the lowly Bethlehem shepherds in Luke 2 become a REALITY when the CAUSE of UNREST are RELATIONSHIP problems?!

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "With relationship problems between those who will mingle this Christmas, how is God's Peace On Earth' to be attained?"

When the angels spoke of "Peace On Earth" to the shepherds, the SETTING was marked by RELATIONSHIP problems due to SIN:

Mary, Jesus' mother had suffered indignity from those who selfishly had not given up their inn cubicles for her to deliver her baby, 2:4-7:

The inn was a shelter of open cubicles travelers could use free of charge, Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, 1974, p. 49.
Thus, when the other travelers held on to their cubicles regardless if there was no financial cost involved, they left Mary to suffer indignity in leaving the inn to deliver her baby in a stable, 2:4-7!

Bethlehem's shepherds were unjustly alienated from other Hebrews:

The Bethlehem shepherds were banned from the temple as their work kept them absent from many of the temples services, Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. i, p. 187.
Thus, they were unfairly publicly estranged from other worshipers!

The LOCATION of the angelic appearance recalled the estrangement problems created by sin that had afflicted Israel's patriarch, Jacob:

The shepherds kept their sheep in fields close to "Migdol Eder," the "Tower of the Flock" located south of Bethlehem on the road connecting Hebron down south with Jerusalem up north, Ibid., p. 186-187; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Genesis 35:21.
Now, Hebrew tradition strongly held that Messiah's birth would be heralded from that tower, Ibid., Edersheim, p. 186-187.
Yet, the angels heralded Messiah's birth in the field as opposed to using the tower like Hebrew tradition had suggested, Lk. 2:8-14!
Significantly, near that very field, Israel's ancient patriarch, Jacob had long before camped amid estrangement issues caused by SIN:

Jacob had left his father, Isaac to flee to Padan-aram and stay with his uncle Laban away from his brother Esau who had vowed to kill Jacob for stealing his birthright, Gen. 27:41-28:5.
Yet, that flight had resulted in Jacob's need to return to Canaan as God had caused Laban to lose much of his livestock to Jacob due to Laban's mistreatment of Jacob, Genesis 31:1-55.
In returning to Canaan, Jacob had met his brother, Esau in a tense reunion before settling near Shechem, Genesis 32-33.
Yet, at Shechem, Jacob's daughter, Dinah had been ravished by a pagan, so Jacob's sons killed the men of the guilty man's city, and Jacob had begun to move south to avoid avengers, Gen. 34.
In continuing south to be reunited with his long-unseen father, Jacob lost his favored wife, Rachel in childbirth at Bethlehem, Gen. 35:16-20. [Her death resulted from general sin, Gen. 3:16.]
So, still heading south, Jacob of long ago had camped just beyond the Tower of the Flock to grieve amid his long record of relationship problems caused by sin, Genesis 35:21 NIV!

Yet, when the shepherds in that field HEEDED God's Word by the angels, His "Peace On Earth" was tasted by the shepherds and Mary as a symbol of hope for all people re: relationship problems:

First, by their obedience to His Word, God created His balm for past relationship problem pain for the shepherds and then for Mary:

For heeding God's Word by the angels, the shepherds met God's Messiah and Incarnate Lord and broadcast the news to all, 2:9-17.
That heralding united the shepherds with all who marveled at their word in triumph over their unfair excommunication, Luke 2:18.
Their heralding to all brought honor to Mary and her infant before the folk in the inn who had dishonored her by not giving up a cubicle for her delivery needs, Luke 2:18-19.

Second, through the appearing of the angels, God thus brought Mary and the shepherds into a special bond with each other, Luke 2:16-19!
Then, as the angels announced Jesus was the "Savior" (Lk. 2:11), and Matthew 1:21 tells us He would save His people from their sins, and this announcement came to men in the field near where Jacob camped and not from the Tower of the Flock, God signaled the relationship problems Jacob or anyone else knew due to sin can be overcome by faith in Christ, John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:11-16; 1 Cor. 15:20-21.

Application: If suffering from relationship estrangement due to sin, (1) may we heed God's Word to trust in Christ for salvation from sin (Acts 17:30; Jn. 3:16). (2) Then, may we HEED God's Word to find (a) healing from old estrangement wounds and (b) gain new, fulfilling relationships with the godly as God's gift!

Lesson: By heeding God's Word, the shepherds saw (1) God ease the pain of past relationship problems caused by sin and (2) create a lifelong bond with Messiah's mother! (3) As the angels appeared not from the Tower of the Flock as tradition had held, but in the field to the shepherds near where Jacob of old had dwelt with his many problem relationships caused by sin shows this hope is for ALL relationships afflicted by SIN!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

This past week, God illustrated His will to build edifying bonds and give balm over past relationship problems for heeding His Word:

I received a call Thursday from one of our Church members who asked if I knew the men who were set to debate evolution versus creation in a large Evangelical church in Avon. As she read the names listed on the flyer, I said I had not heard of the atheistic evolutionist, but I did know the minister who would take the "creation" side -- I had come into personal conflict with him over his view of creation!

I explained he holds to the Framework Theory: it sees Genesis 1 as poetry so that the word, "day" there is treated figuratively to equal uncertain eras of time in an uncertain order so that evolution might occur in Genesis 1 [J. A. Pipa, Jr., Ph. D., "From Chaos to Cosmos: A Critique of the Framework Hypothesis," 1/13/98 at Westminster Theol. Sem., Cal.]! This theory is thus another brand of theistic evolution!

I told her that a few years ago I was put into e-mail interaction with this minister by a believer who wanted me to correct his view on creation. In the interchange, the minister treated as relatively trivial the Hebrew grammar point I cited from the esteemed Professor George Buchanan Gray that does not allow for Genesis 1 to be poetry via the "waw consecutives" there [Gray (past Professor of Hebrew and O. T. Exegesis in Mansfield College, Oxford) The Forms of Hebrew Poetry , 1972 by Ktav Pub. House, p. 52]! When I saw the minister was bent on allegorizing Genesis 1 so that our interchange was headed into a futile debate that 2 Timothy 2:15-26 calls me to avoid, I ended the interaction! I explained this to the one who had set up the interaction, but that believer got irritated with me and in time rejected my ministry!

In contrast, our member who called me this week expressed her appreciation for my explaining all of this to her; she valued being able to discern and thus avoid the error the folk in the large Evangelical church will be fed as they (like many Evangelicals today) will be led to side with a theistic evolutionist's subtle errors versus the atheist's more blatant errors only to end up themselves mishandling the Word of God!

So, in this phone call, God applied this sermon: He gave balm from the pain of a stand taken a few years ago to heed His Word and built a deeper spiritual bond with this fellow member. May we then heed God's precious Word that He may give us His "Peace On Earth" in relationship issues this Christmas!