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Welcome to Alpine Bible Church. We are excited that you are here on this lovely Christmas Day to worship with us to celebrate the birth of our savior. This morning, I would invite you all to stand. We’re going to just sing some a few songs. Classic carols together this morning. What child is this? Who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping. Whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch are keeping. Is this is Christ the King whom shepherds, guard and angels sing. Haste haste to bring him Lord the. Dave, the son of man. So bring him. Goldener, Kompass and King to own him. The king of. Salvation. Of ingots and thrown him. God high. The virgin sings her love. Love by Jai. Christ is born. The babe. The Son. Is this is Christ the King whom shepherds guard in angels sing. Is haste to bring him like the babe, the son of. We? Is Bishop piercing through the cross. He bore for me. For you. The word made flesh. The babe, The son of man. We? While shepherds kept their. Watching over silent flocks by night. Hole through. Out the. This show not only. Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on. And that Jesus Christ is born. The shepherds feared and trembled when low. Over the years. Ray out the angel chorus that hailed the Savior’s birth. Go tell it on the. And take over the hills and. Everywhere.
Or tell it on the. Understand that Jesus Christ is. In a lonely. Humble Christ was born. And God sent us salvation. And blessed Christmas morn. Go tell it on. Ten over. Is everywhere. Go tell it on. Announcing that Jesus Christ is born. Oh, go tell it on the. And over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the. Ten that Jesus Christ is born. That Jesus Christ is born. Amen. You guys can be seated and we’re going to have the kids come and grace us with a song. Luke two verse eight through 14. Guys. And there were shepherds living out in the fields. Keeping watch. Is an angel of. And the glory of the Lord shone around. They? Tell me every. Of great joy that will be for all people. Angel of the Lord. You’re not. This, this this will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly. Heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and. Glory to God in the highest. Glory to God in the highest. Glory to God. And on earth. He surveyed a new. Oh, Carter. It was a night unlike any other. There was a stillness in the air, a quiet calm in the evening sky. Grace was on the horizon, an unfathomable mercy. I love deeper than anyone had ever known. This silent night was about to give way to a chorus which would change the world. Forever. For on this day.
In the city of David. Is born a savior. Jesus. The Son of God. The word in flesh. God had reached down from heaven to earth. To draw us to himself. To make a way to bring us home. Today. The heart of God is on full display. For God so loved the world. Sounds like they’re still cheering outside. I think that’s probably because the loudmouth in the front row was the pastor’s kid. And if you didn’t need to hear from me first, he takes after his mother. All right. In case in case anyone asks, that’s that’s where that came from. Well, merry Christmas. It’s good to spend the Christmas holiday together and honoring really what Christmas is intended to be about. And, you know, at Christmas, candlelight service. Asked a question that I really want to just piggyback off the theme of that that question for us this morning. And I won’t make my comments long. I don’t want to drag out today, but I do want us to honor the Lord in the end by partaking of communion. But the question we asked ourselves a couple of nights ago and then again this morning is if you were to introduce Christmas to someone, if you were to share that Christmas story or more specifically that first Christmas story, how would you tell the story and what would you say? There’s a lot of different ways that you could choose to describe that. But one of the things I want to focus on for us this morning is to remind us of of the redemption that comes through Christmas and the opportunity we have to participate in that redemption story by being a part of what God has called us into with him.
He’s invited us into with him. And one of the beautiful things about one of the beautiful things about this redemption story is that God not only gets gives us a place to observe his grace and goodness that he he has put on display for Christmas. We know the culmination of what Christmas comes about really is is found in Easter, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. But you don’t have the death, burial and resurrection of Christ without the birth of Christ. And so Christmas becomes an important acknowledgement and seeing the gracious hand of God as he lived out his life here on Earth and ultimately gave his life on our behalf, that we could find freedom in him. That’s that story of redemption. And what we find in that Christmas story is when God becomes so personal by taking on flesh rather than than give up on us, he entered into our suffering. And that communicates a lot of concern and care for our well being. You think one of the most important ways you have to relate to another human being in their struggle is to empathize with them by becoming coming with them on their level, understanding what they’re going through and walking that journey with them.
And and that’s exactly what God has done for us, to the point that he was even wounded to demonstrate his concern and care and ultimately free us from from the things of this world. So rather than give up, he entered into our suffering rather than run away, he ran into our brokenness. Rather than just destroy and start over, he renewed, he redeemed. And Jesus was willing to to step into what was difficult to bring that redemption story. In fact, in John chapter one, we read this at our candlelight service. But I want to remind us again these last couple of verses and the introduction to John, by the way, is this great a prelude to all that Jesus will demonstrate in John. And it’s this introduction to the nature of who God is in Christ. But he says this to us in John one verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, the glory as the only, only son from the Father full of grace and truth, for from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. So, so God cares so much that He becomes personal. He takes on flesh. And. And then it tells us we have received grace upon grace that what is communicating is God’s grace is unending, that every day we need God’s grace and God makes that grace available to us. It’s it’s not just grace offered to you once.
It’s grace again and again. What he’s communicating is, is Christmas isn’t just December 25th. Christmas is every day because every day you have the opportunity to experience the gift that it is to know Jesus and walk with him. And so we get that grace upon grace. God’s redemption story made known to us that God was willing to enter into the difficult, enter into the brokenness, give his life for our sins, that we could find freedom in him. We like to say it as a church that God didn’t come to make bad men good and good men. Great. He came to bring the the dead to life. That’s the great miracle of Christmas, is that Jesus gave his life for us. Because in and of ourselves, we we were walking in death. The wages of sin, the Bible tells us, is of death. And the Jewish people had been awaiting this for centuries. You think of the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12. It was repeated in Genesis 15, Genesis 17, Genesis 18, that through Abraham, all nations would be blessed. But right after Abraham, the Jewish people shortly find themselves in slavery. And then God brought the prophets to proclaim, Keep turning to the Lord, keep seeking the Lord. He will bring that Messiah. But then, right before the New Testament is written, you have 400 years of silence where the prophets stopped speaking. And then in that moment, that’s when Jesus enters the world and Jesus delivers to us His grace.
But one of the things that we find about His redemption story is that it’s it’s not just it’s not just for us, that his redemption story really is for all of creation. And this this should say second, Peter, But I have it on here as first Peter chapter three. But in second Peter Chapter three. Peter reminds us to the extent of of where God’s redemption story, how it extends that God, as He pursued us to give us new life, that God is in the renewing business. A second Corinthians chapter five, verse 17, tells us anyone in Christ is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And what is saying to us is, Look, God, God didn’t quit on you. What God actually did is He brought death to life. He. He made something in you that is completely new because of what Jesus has done. He has restored that in you. He has made you a new creation. And that God is about to do that with with the rest of creation either. In fact, in second Peter three, verse ten, it says, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night then. The heavens will pass away with with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. And the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed in verse 13. But according to his promises, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in in which righteousness dwells.
Now some people read second Peter 310 and they they, I think sometimes will reach a false conclusion of what God desires to do with his creation. Peter was one of Jesus’s first disciples. In fact, he was there at that pinnacle moment in Matthew chapter 16, where Jesus says, I’m going to build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And when Jesus wanted to build his church, the way that he built his church was through people. Jesus came for people, and he particularly wanted his church to be made up of his redeemed people, to go into this world, to share that gospel hope that that of all the kingdoms of this world could offer. Jesus was a new king, offering us a new kingdom which brought renewed life in him. And the church was to go in the in the world and proclaim that and to experience that as they walked with God to be that redemption story told over and over. And, you know, one of the beautiful things about being God’s people, you think of all the places God could declare his glory. I think the best place God could do it is through his people. Because out of all of God’s creation, he made his people special and unique beyond anything else. He spoke everything into existence except for humanity. It tells us in the Book of Genesis he formed you from the dirt of the ground, and he breathed into you too.
The the breath of life. And man became a living being. And. And when we became that living being, we become that representation of God in this world. Being able to proclaim his message. Who better to be the hands and feet of God’s message in this world than those he made in his image, and particularly his church, that shares in that redemption story? And so when Peter is talking about God dissolving things and the heavens and the earth, verse 13, he tells us that he makes the heavens and the earth new. What’s important about this word new? And the reason I highlighted it, there’s two words for new in the Greek New Testament. One is Neo, which means out of nothing came something new. Literally, it’s brand new, right? It came into existence in time. At that moment, it’s Neo. And then there’s another word called called Kainos, which is qualitatively new. It literally means renewed. And what Peter is saying here is not that that the new heavens and the new Earth are neo, but rather the new heavens and new earth are kainos, meaning God’s not going to obliterate or annihilate the heavens and the earth. What he’s rather going to do is he’s going to recreate it. He’s going to bring life from death. He’s going to make not just humanity new through the gospel story. He’s going to renew all things because that’s what our God is in the business of doing.
And that’s the beauty of the Christmas message, is that not only do we have a place to be invited into redemption by accepting what Jesus has done for us, by dying on the cross, by embracing that story, we also have the opportunity to participate in it. And when you when you study the very first Christmas and that’s that’s that’s what exactly Mary and Joseph did I think Mary accepting willingly willingly the position to to take Jesus as a young lady in her society trying to tell people no, this is a virgin birth. How many people would have accepted that? And she would have found that very difficult in in her religious society to walk that path. And she was in a position of poverty, yet she willingly followed the path that God called her on. Or even Joseph, you know, the gospel stories tells us when Joseph finds out Mary’s pregnant, that Joseph was trying to figure out what to do in that circumstance, he was finding it rather difficult because he knew the child wasn’t his. But God shows up to him and he tells him what what his plans are. And Joseph willingly chooses to raise a child that’s not his own. To share in that redemption story. I mean, redemption is all about God stepping into what’s difficult, that we could find freedom in him and for us to participate in the redemption story.
It’s the same thing. The willingness to take on things that may sometimes be extra may be a little hard. But it’s so important that redemption story to share that other people may know it. Mary was willing to do it. Joseph was willing to do it. Even John the Baptist. When you read the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John doesn’t start with the story of Jesus like Matthew and Luke with a shepherd and Wiseman. The Gospel of John just gives a it begins in the first 18 verses, giving the declaration of the identity of who God is in Christ. And then John the Baptist is introduced at that point. But John the Baptist, in order to share in that redemption story, gave his life. And that’s what us participating in the Christmas Story is about or the redemption story is about. Trying to figure out in our society how we can move forward in sharing the goodness of who Christ is. In fact, I would even say to us this morning, December 25th is a reflection of God’s people trying to figure out the best way in their day and time of how to honor Christ. And let me tell you how I hate to burst your bubble this morning if you don’t already know this, but most likely Jesus was not born on December 25th. Um, in fact, in the early church, what’s more likely is that December 25th was a time period in which they would honor false gods, not the early church, but the people around the early church.
This was the winter solstice. This was a time where they would go out and honor pagan gods and worship. And the early church realized, hey, wait a minute, they’re honoring false gods on this day. But God is the God of December 25th and December 23rd and the 24th and the 26th. He’s the god of every day. And when people use things of this world to honor false gods, God’s people aren’t called to run away from that. God’s people are called to step into the difficulty of that and figure out how to help culture honor the Lord, how to help people recognize the significance of the one true God and honor Him. So rather than let the December 25th just be handed over to false gods, the early church was said, You know what? Let’s celebrate Jesus’s birthday on this day and acknowledge this day as his day because he is the God of every day. Christmas is every day and especially December 25th. And so the early church chose this holiday not because Jesus was born. On this day, we have no idea when Jesus was born, but. But it became a day that we could honor who Christ was rather than turn it over to false gods. In fact, the Christmas holiday is riddled with imagery that you can use for God’s glory. And God created all things in this world for good.
But what you do with it determines whether or not it’s used for God’s glory. If we looked at the things that people took from this world and thought, you know what, people have used this for bad and we just ran away from it, there is nothing in this world that you could use. Literally everything in this world at some point has been used for something other than God’s glory. But God made all things. And God desires for those things to be used for his glory. And so the Christmas holiday became a holiday that that we can see the imagery of Christ through the things that we do and acknowledge it and share in that redemption story. And just to give you a few examples, not only not just December 25th, I just picked a few items out of here. The wreath the wreath is a circle. A circle has neither beginning or end. We we sometimes will use the wreath to to honor the Christmas holiday. But it can also serve as a reminder that God’s promises are always true, that he’s faithful from beginning to end. And and who he he declares himself to be. The Christmas tree. During this season, everything seems to have death, but the Christmas tree continues to have life. And Jesus came in order to to give life and to be life for us. The candy cane reminds us of of the Shepherd’s staff. And Jesus is the great shepherd. And the red reminds us of the blood that he shed and the white, the forgiveness that we receive in him.
The idea of gifts. Christmas is about God’s grace we received in John Grace upon grace. When you give a gift, a gift is free and grace is free. Romans 324 reminds us that Grace is a free gift Xmas. Some people think that when people write the word Xmas, they’re taking Christ out of Christmas. They’re not taking Christ out of Christmas, they’re actually putting Christ in Christmas. The letter X in Greek is the first letter for Jesus’s name, and it was the way the early church would abbreviate the word Christmas. So when people think they’re taking Christ out of Christmas by writing Xmas, you get the privilege of reminding them, Actually, you’re putting Jesus right in the center of it, right? You’re writing the abbreviated version of his name by putting putting an X there or Santa Claus. Santa Claus. Well, the original Santa Claus was a follower of Christ in the fourth century. He was from a wealthy family. He turned his life over to Christ. He used his wealth to give to others, to proclaim Christ and aim. Santa Claus was a very godly individual. He was at the Nicene Creed that wrote of the Christian faith, the star on the top of your tree. Most people, I find, have no idea why they either put a star or an angel on top of the tree. I think sometimes the decision goes as far as what do I think looks the prettiest.
But, but when you read the gospel stories, you find that in the Gospel of Matthew, what appeared to Christ or not to Christ, but what appeared to the wise men to guide them was a star and the Gospel of Luke. What appeared to the shepherds to guide them was an angel. But we put it on the top of the tree, or the two things that appeared to share the gospel story to us the Christmas story, A star by night to direct the wise men and an angel, to direct the shepherds to to praise the Lord. So the point of all, all these Christmas, the Christmas traditions that we have is, well, I should say the intentions for most of the Christmas traditions that we should have were to point us to Jesus. But it’s what you do with it. That matters. This Christmas holiday. All the things that you’ve done to observe this Christmas celebration. What you do with it matters. It’s the declaration of how you want to participate in this redemption story, as Jesus has given his life for you. So you have opportunity to return your life in response and and use this holiday for what’s intended. And ladies, if you’re listening, I’m giving you plenty of excuse after we’re done to run to every discount store as they put holiday merchandise on the shelves. Right. And and and buy these things to celebrate what Christ has done.
But not not just this holiday. It’s how God’s people are called to respond in every circumstance. That just as the first century church found a way to honor Christ during December 25th around this holiday season. So you have every day the opportunity to ask yourself, how can we be used of God to redeem these moments for his redemption story, for his glory, for his goodness? Communion for us. Is a way of reminder that we are also participations in that redemption story. Communion is a is a first a communication to us for what God has done. He gave his life that we could have freedom in him. Communion reminds us of the life that Christ has given to us on this holiday season. His body that was broken. That’s the bread, his blood that was shed. That’s the drink. Jesus did that for us. But communes also a reminder that we’re a participatory participator in it. The Justice Christ has given his life for us. So we have response and opportunity to respond by giving our life in return. In fact, Communion was observed as a part of the betrothal period during Jesus’s first first century. Whenever a young man decided that he wanted to marry a young woman, he would go to the father and they would agree upon a dowry to pay. The young man would pay that dowry. Jesus paid that dowry for us, which was his life. And then to to commemorate that moment and to to recognize that the dowry was agreed upon, the the to that would be betrothed together, the bride and the groom, the future bride and groom, they would partake of communion.
The groom would partake to show that he had given his agreement to pay the dowry and the bride would partake, showing that she would give her life in response. Communion for us is that picture of not only what Jesus has done, but also a reminder that we want to enter into that relationship with him, that as he has given his life for us. So we give our life in response. Communion is for believers. It’s for those that have taken that step to embrace that free gift that Jesus gives. And can I encourage you and remind you this morning it’s free. And if you’re not here and you’ve not embraced Jesus, how important that gift is. That is the only gift we have. By which we get to experience life in eternity with Christ forever. If there were another way, Jesus would have never given His life for us. He would have said, Keep being good at being good. Right? Religion is the right way. But rather what he did is gave his life because he knew he was the way, the truth and the life. And then we have the opportunity, especially on a Christmas Day like this. To receive that gift to say to Christ, and maybe this is you this morning if you’ve never received him.
Lord, I know I need your forgiveness. God, thank you for giving your life for me that I could experience life with you forever. I accept you as my king and what you did for me on the cross by putting your faith in Christ that way, the Bible promises us that you get to experience eternity with Him forever. And Paul says it like this in First Corinthians Chapter 11. He says, For I receive from the Lord that which I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night which He was betrayed, took bread, and when he given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup also after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And then it reminds us for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he returns. Let me encourage you, as you think about the early church Christmas people freak out about Christmas, but they study Christmas. They find it had pagan origins and all of a sudden they think a holiday like this has bad intentions. It’s not the holiday that’s. That’s bad. It’s what you do with it. And when you use it for God’s glory, it can be a wonderful platform to proclaim the grace of God in our lives.
It’s a part of our redemption story to let people know that Jesus has come for them. And Christmas keeps happening because the grace of God is made new. I’m going to pray for us and we’ll invite the musicians up to lead us in one last song. Let’s pray. God, we thank you for your goodness and grace to us, your love that’s extended during this holiday season to remind us. God, you didn’t give up on us. You pursued us in the difficult and you renew us by faith. Lord, help us as your people. To not only embrace that and walk in the freedom of that Lord, but to share it with others. We thank you for this morning that we could celebrate Christmas together as your people. And we rejoice knowing that we are free in you. And it’s in Christ’s name we pray. Amen. Amen. Would you stand with us as we conclude with one final song this morning, Silent Night. Sir. Nine. But. Round. Then try. We’re. Sleep. Silent. Holy night shine. See. For. Second. Christ the Savior is. Cry. Savior. Sir. So. You. Employees from. Three. Three. Jesus, Lord. My birth. She. Jesus. Amen. Thanks for being here with us to worship. I hope you have an incredible Merry Christmas and have a great week. You guys are dismissed.