The Great Music Of Christmas

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. What's the spirit of Christmas? Christmas past, Christmas present, Christmas future, is that the spirit of Christmas? I just heard on a Hallmark movie, the spirit of Christmas is family.

No, it's not. Well, the spirit of Christmas is giving, in a sense, but not you and I giving. You know what the spirit of Christmas is? Worship. That's the spirit. You want to be involved in the spirit of Christmas? Worship. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world. There are many traditions, decorating and lights and ornaments and tinsel and Christmas trees and Christmas cards and presents and there's the TV shows and the movies and the stories and all the music. No other holiday has anything even close to Christmas. You can listen 24 hours a day from Thanksgiving to Christmas to Christmas music.

It just goes on and on and on. In fact, in preparing this sermon, I was listening to the hundred greatest Christmas songs ever on AccuRadio at my computer. But as I thought about this, so much of the music of Christmas becomes white noise. We're so familiar with the songs, it's just something that's there.

We don't really even think about it. Sometimes we sing out loud if it's something we like. Sometimes we have a melody in our head. But I'm not so sure that we're really singing and thinking about it the way that we should. Now, that's not a problem if you're singing White Christmas or Jingle Bells or I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.

You know, that really doesn't matter. But somehow there's been a blending of everything. I really noticed that this past year, I don't know if you know this or not, but there are dozens of Hallmark Christmas movies and I've seen dozens. And one of the things I noticed this year with the Hallmark Christmas movies in two movies or a little bit earlier, a week or two ago, they're at a Christmas party in the town near the end. And it's the romantic scene at the end where they realize they love each other.

It always works that way. And there's silent nights playing. So they dance. Then just a day or two ago, the first Noel was the one and they were dancing again. I just want to tell you, Silent Night and First Noel are not dance numbers. That's not how you dance. But that's sort of the way the music works. And so I think often as Christians, what ends up happening is even with the incredible amount of great music that's been written about the birth of Jesus Christ, we don't think about it much. Even when we sing it, we just mouth the words.

So today, I'm going to do something that I've never done before here. I'm going to preach one of the greatest Christmas songs ever written. It was written by Charles Wesley.

Charles Wesley is the brother of John Wesley, the great evangelist and the father of the modern Methodist Church. Charles Wesley, in the 1700s, wrote six thousand hymns. That's more than any man has ever written.

It's less than Fanny Crosby wrote, but it's more than any man has ever written. And he said the reason he did it, his goal was he wanted to teach the Bible and theology to the poor and illiterate people of England. So in 1739, he wrote a poem. He was inspired as he was walking through with Christmastime, London, and heard the church bells ringing.

And so he called his poem Hark. He wrote this incredible Christmas poem and song one year after he had converted to Jesus Christ. In 1753, George Whitfield, a great speaker and evangelist here in America, he put it to music.

But it was in 1850 that the music was paired then, changed from Whitfield's music to the music of Mendelssohn. And so you have this great, great Christmas carol, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing. That's what I want to talk about today. I want you to open your Bibles to Luke chapter two and verses 13 and 14. Luke says something here that sort of fits what he is about to say when he writes this hymn. It starts on verse 13 like this. And suddenly, this wasn't something gradual, and suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased. Wesley's song begins, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, glory to the new born king. This isn't glory to a baby who's going to become a king. This is Hark about a king who became a baby.

That's what he writes. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing. Have you ever thought about how much angels sing? In Bible, not near as much as you think. They sang at the physical creation of the universe.

That's what Job tells us. They sang then. Revelation tells us that in the end times, they're singing again. They're singing praise. And now here, they're singing the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. What an amazing thing.

Then it says this. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Boy, this is loaded with meaning. That's why he came. That's why the baby was born. God and sinners reconciled. A holy God and sinful people now reconciled. The apostle Paul says this in Romans 5.

He says, for while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. That's what Jesus did. The baby in the manger becomes the man on the cross. And the reason there is a baby in the manger is so that he becomes the man on the cross. As I say often at this time of year, Mary had a little lamb. John the Baptist, when he first met Christ about to launch his ministry, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. The idea of reconciling you and me with a holy God.

That's why he was born. 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 the Messiah is born in Bethlehem.

Wow. Joyful all ye nations. This is the great news for everybody.

It doesn't matter where you're born or when you're born. This is joy. Look up at verse 10, what the angels said, who spoke to the shepherds first. And the angels said to them, Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people.

That's what Wesley captures. Joyful all ye nations rise. Join the triumph of the skies. The Messiah has been born in Bethlehem. Mankind and the angelic world joined together in praise of God. Christ is born in Bethlehem. And then he repeats, heart the herald, angels sing glory to the newborn king.

The second verse starts out like this. Christ by highest heaven adored. Christ, the everlasting Lord. The angels have a perspective of this that we don't often appreciate. They have been in heaven for a long, long time. And they know who the Son of God is.

We know from John 1 and Colossians 1, he created them. They know that he is the great creator God. And now they see him coming to earth in the form of a baby. I mean, it's an amazing thing.

A concept for them has to be so unusual. So Wesley writes, Christ by highest heaven adored. He is the everlasting Lord. And then these words, offspring of a virgin's womb.

Do you imagine if we were angels what we would be talking about seeing this? It'd be one thing to say he's going to become a man and come to earth. He'll come like Superman. He'll do super things and then he'll go to the cross. He comes as a baby, helpless, pathetic, a baby. And not just any baby, he's the offspring of a virgin's womb. That's what he writes. I can't imagine what the angels are thinking.

Why is he doing this? Then this line, one of the best in the entire carol, veiled in flesh the Godhead see. What a beautiful way of saying that.

He's there, but he's veiled. I could hardly imagine that. Filled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity. An amazing line. I think what the angels would say, look, I know this is what's happening, but I have no idea how or why.

I just don't. This is an amazing thing. It breaks them out in this kind of worship. This everlasting Lord is the offspring of a virgin's womb.

Just an amazing thing when you think about it. It's a mystery to us, and I believe it was a mystery to them as well. The question would be, and he answers it in the next part of the verse, pleased as man with man to dwell. Why would God do this? He's pleased with man because they try hard, because they sin willfully. He's pleased with man because they set up religious activity to try to impress him. Why is he pleased with us? Because he loves us.

That's what it means. He loves us. Why would the Son of God be born in Bethlehem? Because he loves us. I always try to read John 3.16 for myself when it says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.

But I always try to read it for me, for God so loved me. He so loved me he wanted to give his only begotten Son for me, as he does for you. It's an amazing thing when you think about it. We didn't earn it. We don't deserve it, but we get it. There's the grace of God in action. Last time we talked about Jesus was full of grace and truth. But the point of it here is that he is pleased with us because he loves us. Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.

Which means what? God with us. He is our Emmanuel. Hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn King.

The third verse. Hail the heaven born Prince of peace. Turn with me for a moment to Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. It says, For a child will be born to us. A son will be given to us.

This is what Wesley writes about. A child is born, but a son is given. That's the deity and humanity of Christ. And then it says, And the government will rest on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father. And then there it is, Prince of peace. Why is he the Prince of peace? Because he's reconciled us to a holy God. When governments get together and they have peace talks, what's the point of a peace talk? To reconcile both parties.

Can we avoid war and the outcome of it? Let's have peace. Jesus is called by Isaiah 700 years earlier, the Prince of peace. And in Isaiah 7, he writes in verse 14.

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel, God with us. He said, Hail the heaven born Prince of peace.

He comes from heaven. Then he says, Hail the son of righteousness. The only single human being that's ever lived that was righteous is Jesus Christ.

There's never been another one. All sin falls short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not one.

He is the only one. Righteousness is intrinsic to Jesus Christ. That's what makes this baby so special and so unique and so different in every possible way. And then he says this, Light and life to all he brings. Remember, John said that the light came into the darkness and the darkness could not comprehend it. In John 8, Jesus said, I am the light of the world.

That's an amazing thing when you think about it. The light of Jesus Christ. In his lifetime, man only got one glimpse of this. And I want you to see this in Matthew 17, verse one. Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, his brother, and he led them up to a high mountain by themselves. He was transformed before them.

His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light. That's one of my favorite scenes in the entire gospels. These three men get to see Jesus for who he really is, and Jesus just takes them up to the mountain, and then he shows them who he is. Now, they are so overwhelmed when they see Jesus for who he really is that Peter talks about the idea, let's build tabernacles, let's worship. He's talking to Elijah and Moses on this mountain. But it's interesting. Then he hears from the Father, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

The idea behind it is simple. He's light. He is light. That's why he said, I'm the light of the world. But again, Wesley writes, light and life he brings to all he brings. He's life.

From a certain point of view, I understand something about you and me. We're death. Ever since the Garden of Eden, the day you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that day you will surely what? Die. And they died spiritually that day.

Now, they lived a lot of years later, and then they died. But you and I are death. Jesus Christ is life.

That's why he said, I am the way and the truth and what? I'm the life. The only hope of mankind for eternal life is the life of Jesus Christ. He's the life.

You see, that's the point. He that believes in the Son has life. He that does not believe in the Son does not have life, but the wrath of God abides on him. That's what the scriptures say. So he is life.

Are you sure that he can give us that? Well, the next line that Wesley writes, risen with healing in his wings. Now, that seems like a strange phrase. In fact, I had to talk to a very well-educated man after the 8 o'clock and said, was Wesley implying that God has wings?

And I said, no, he's writing a poem. It's a metaphor. The psalmist says the same thing. We take refuge under the wings of God. It doesn't mean God had wings.

He's a spirit, so wings would be obvious. But he says there's healing in his wings. And even though Jesus can heal, we don't deny that at all. We pray for healing. If people are sick, we pray for healing.

And Jesus can do that. But that's not the healing he's talking about here. He's talking about your and my fatal infirmity, where the diagnosis and prognosis is death. The diagnosis is sin.

The prognosis is death. And he said, but he has healing in his wings, in his person. Well, how do you know it'll work? The first word, brilliantly written by Wesley, risen.

That's how I know it works. What do you mean? How do you know Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life?

How do you know? He was raised from the dead. If he wasn't raised from the dead, without a resurrection, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, then we're to be the most pitied of any group of people.

You and I believe just a big lie. But he was raised from the dead. You see, it's the resurrection of Christ that gives us the assurance that God the Father is satisfied with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And he makes this incredible sacrifice for us. Then Wesley writes, mild he lays his glory by.

What a great insight this is. Go with me to Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. Paul writes this. He said, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, the morphe of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself.

Mild he lays his glory by. Is Jesus truly God? Yes. So was he only truly God here on Earth?

No. He laid aside a lot, not all, a lot of his divine prerogatives. That's Jesus. He did that out of his own humility. Mildly he lays his glory by.

Notice that Paul goes on and writes this. He emptied himself, taking on the form of a bondservant, being made in the likeness of men. One of my grievances, again, with the word bondservant. It's not the word bondservant.

It's the word doulos, which is slave. He became a slave to the will of the Father. Being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient, even to the point of death and death on the cross. Mild he lay his glory by. He became one of us. He wasn't rich. He wasn't powerful in the sense of human government. He looked like a root out of ground.

No one really took notice. And yet here he is, the creator of all things. Paul goes on and says, for this reason, also God highly exalted him and showed and stowed on him a name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every one in heaven on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That was his mission.

He laid those prerogatives aside. Mild he lays his glory by. Born that man no more may die. That line of itself is something you and I should think about. Why was the baby born so you won't die?

That's it. Why was he born so you won't die? If he's not born, you die.

So do I. He said, born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give them second birth. Wow. That's kind of a unique thing when you think about it.

Born to give them second birth. Remember the story of Jesus in Nicodemus? Nicodemus, this great Pharisee, he is the lead teacher of the Sanhedrin. And it's so funny because he comes to Jesus and he says to Jesus that, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher and that no one can do the signs you do unless God is with them.

Wow. That's a big news from the lead teacher of the Sanhedrin. Jesus doesn't thank him. In fact, he doesn't even recognize him in a sense. I know who you are. Jesus is the great Nicodemus, the great teacher of the Sanhedrin.

Well, thanks for the compliment. Jesus doesn't say anything like that. His very first word is the Nicodemus. Jesus answered and said, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you're born again, you can't see the kingdom of God. There you go. You have to be born again to see the kingdom of God.

And that's exactly what he writes. Born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give them second birth. I think often we think that we invented the term born again.

This is new. There's nothing new about being born again. And by the way, that's what the Wesleys took over England with.

John Wesley was an incredible evangelist with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So Maude lays his glory by, born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth.

Born to give them second birth. Hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king.

It's a mini course. If you just read that and think about what he wrote, this is a mini course in Christology. This is who Jesus Christ is, exactly who he is, why he came, what motivates him.

This is an amazing thing. Just in one short Christmas carol called Hark, the Herald Angels Sing. So I'm going to go back now and read in Luke what happened starting in verse 8.

Luke 2, if you have it open, great. In the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. Now, don't miss the context of that. When it's nighttime in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, unless it's a full moon night, you can't see your hand in front of your face. It's pitch black. An angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them. The glory of the Lord shone around them. So instant Vegas for them.

Instant light from everywhere. And then it says, and they were terribly frightened. How could they not be? And the angel said to them, don't be afraid. Behold, I bring you good news of great joy. It'll be for all the people. Today, for the day in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly, there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men with whom he is pleased.

What an event. And when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, let's go straight to Bethlehem then and let's see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And so they came in a hurry, and they find on their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as he lay in a manger. And when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this child. And all who heard it wondered at the things that were being told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they heard and seen, just as had been told them. What's the spirit of Christmas? Christmas past, Christmas present, Christmas future, is that the spirit of Christmas? I just heard on a Hallmark movie, the spirit of Christmas is family.

No, it's not. Well, the spirit of Christmas is giving, in a sense, but not you and I giving. You know what the spirit of Christmas is? Worship.

That's the spirit. You want to be involved in the spirit of Christmas, worship. That's what Hark the Herald Angels sing. They sing worship. How did their singing affect the shepherds? They worshipped.

The shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard. That's how they affected it. My question to you today is this. When you sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing, how does it affect you? You see, how does it affect you? Is it white noise, Hark the Herald Angels Sing?

And you're just going through another song to get through. Or do you think about this? These are angels.

This is what they said about it. Our Lord Jesus Christ. This Christmas, when we sing these great songs, or you hear them, think about them.

Don't let the culture change them into another pop song. Some of these are so magnificently written to tell you and I it's time for you and I to worship that baby in a manger. The Fellowship in the Word online. At that website you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org. That's F-B-C-N-O-L-A dot O-R-G. At our website you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .