congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm sure many of us have seen, even this season, many holiday and Christmas movies and TV shows. Or if you have in the past, one of the central themes you might recall, one of the things that's often brought up in these movies is the question, what is the purpose of Christmas? Or what's the point of Christmas? Maybe what's the moral of Christmas, and frankly speaking of all the movies and TV shows that I've seen over the years, most of them do a really, really poor job of answering that question. Usually it's something like the meaning of Christmas is to be with your family, or the meaning of Christmas is to have a giving and cheerful spirit, to help those who are less fortunate than you, or it's simply just to have fun. It's an enjoyable season to be with friends, to give gifts. Well, these things are fine. These are good things to do. These are certainly not the meaning of Christmas. Of all the movies that I've seen, there's only one movie that gets it right, exactly right, and that is Charlie Brown Christmas. the wonderful movie, this cute little story. And really, that's the central question Charlie Brown is asking. What's the meaning of Christmas? He goes to the Christmas tree lot. He's disillusioned with all the bright and flashy new Christmas trees. There's fighting amongst those in the cast of the Christmas play. And then the very heart of the film, Linus, tells us exactly what Christmas is all about. The spotlight hits him and he reads the very story that we just read, the telling of the birth of Jesus and this announcement of the angels. So that is the point of Christmas. And yet Luke, as Luke tells this story, Luke would say, yes, that's true. But he would even go a step further. It's not just about this story. It's not that we hear this story, we read it, and then we move on with our lives. But even in the way Luke tells this story, he tells us what the point is. And that is, Very centrally speaking, the point of this story, the point of Christmas is that it is gospel, that it is a message of good news to us. And we see this in the way that Luke tells the story. He tells it, he frames it in such a way that it's clear the message of this story is a message of good news. Good news. I want us to see that this evening as we consider this very familiar narrative. I want us to see that it is a message of God's gospel to us. And I want to see this in three ways this evening. As Luke tells us about two rulers, two realms, and finally two responses to that message. So first this evening we see in Luke's account two rulers. As Luke begins his account, Luke is setting up from the very beginning a contrast that he wants to show his readers in this story that he's telling, the way he tells it. And we see this even in the very first verse. He says, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census throughout the whole of the Roman Empire. And as we begin the story, we're introduced to the first character, who is Caesar Augustus. Now of course he's not in the story per se, he doesn't have any lines, but it is him who really sets this whole story into motion. He is the one who creates the situation in which Mary and Joseph have to go to their home city to be counted, and in doing so, Jesus is born as prophesied in the town of Bethlehem. And Luke, of course, as I mentioned this morning, he is a historian, that he is very interested, more so than even the other gospel writers, of getting the facts completely right and accurate and detailed, that he wants to give a detailed account of what he has received. So we see he tells this historical account, Caesar in this accounts and in history, he gave this charge and in introducing Caesar, we see him contrasted with the central character of the story, Jesus Christ. See this contrast between this one who is able by his very word, by just simply a decree to make the entire world move around him. He gives a decree and every single person has to go back to their home city. Contrasted to this, we are introduced to this poor Jewish baby who's born not in riches, not in wealth, not in power, but in a manger, in a stable. And then we even see this contrast, and not only in these two characters as one is powerful, he is everything under his control, and this one who seems to be powerless, to have no real effect in the world around him. Even more than this, the message of this gospel, or the message that is announced in this gospel, we see this contrast. What I mean by this is we want to ask the question, what actually is a gospel? We are very familiar with the gospel. It's a word that we use a lot. It's a word that we cherish. But in this time, a gospel was a very common thing. Everyone would have known what a gospel was, and the word itself means good news. But there would have been many gospels that the people would have heard, even on a daily basis. They would have heard many proclamations coming from rulers, coming from those in authority about certain events, about victories, about defeats, about maybe even new taxations, things that were coming down the pipe, things like royal announcements, military victories. Like I said, even one thing that was often announced, one thing that was often a gospel message was the announcement of a birth, the birth of a new ruler. And even Caesar himself, Caesar Augustus, had a gospel message that was proclaimed when he was born. We actually have found these throughout the Roman Empire, but one in Turkey has this detailed announcement of what happened when Caesar was born or what message was being conveyed. You have this written, it says, since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us this Augustus and sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants. that he might end all war and arrange all things. And since he, Caesar, by his appearance, has surpassed all previous benefactors, and since the birthday of the God Augustus was the beginning of this gospel, this good news, for the world that came to be by reason of him, that at the birth of Caesar, the whole world changed, that this was a good news message to his empire. You hear these very specific announcements, right? He brings peace, that there's an end now, there's gonna be an end to all war. That he is, they even say, he is a savior. Caesar is our savior and he's described as divine, he is a God. And it is in this context of this ruler of the whole Roman Empire who is known as a savior and as God, that these angels come by night to Jewish shepherds in the middle of a field. And they announce this in verse 10, for fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. not the Savior who is Augustus, the divine ruler, but a Savior who is Christ, the Lord, the God of the Old Testament. That is the message that the angel is proclaiming. Well, just like in the days of Caesar, the days of the Roman Empire, there were many gospels. Even in our own day, we can attest that there are many announcements, many proclamations of good news that are all around us, things that even might not be good news in the moment, but they promise to be good news in the future. Every four years, we don't have Caesars, but every four years, we have an election cycle. and promises are made every four years. If you just vote for this party, if you just follow this platform, everything that you were hoping for, all your hopes and dreams will be met. In our own lives, we have many things that promise good news to us, many things that we put our hope and our trust in, right? These things, if I just had that thing, if I just had that area of my life satisfied, then I would be happy. Those are, in many ways, gospels. Those are things that promise good news, a good result to us. even at Christmas. Christmas itself can, you know, hold out this promise. If I just had the perfect Christmas, if I had all my family together, finally, if I just, you know, got all the right presents, then I would be satisfied, which, you know, is not true. Even the best Christmas is not ultimately good news apart from this message. In light of these things, in light of these promises, these things, that we put our hope in. Luke here is pointing our eyes on the fact that there is one true gospel, not the gospel of Caesar, not the gospel of enjoyment in this world or getting all that we want in this world, but this message that unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. is the gospel message, and yet we want to ask, why is it such good news? What's the big deal that a Savior is born to us? And the angel shows us this as the story proceeds, or Luke shows us this, rather, in the fact that we not only see two rulers being contrasted, but now he presents to us these two realms. Two realms are put before us. We see this in the result of the announcement itself. The angel, he announces it. He proclaims this message. And then what is the very next thing that happens? The angel, this one who comes first to announce, he is joined by the heavenly host. We might think of these as, you know, these glowing figures in white robes and wings. We don't know what they look like, but this heavenly host is something like a heavenly army. That was what a host would be. They would be in rank and file, lined up, perhaps even arrayed for battle with weapons. You can even think of something like a military band or a military parade announcing, rejoicing in this message that is just announced. And what do they do? What is the thing that they all are participating in? It's praise. They're giving praise to God. They're giving praise to the one who is working out this message, who's accomplishing this. Very thing, and as we see this angelic host come down, we really see two realms before us. We are told in their song, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. We see glory to God in the highest pointing us to God's throne, to heaven itself, where his glory dwells, and then this contrasting realm, earth, on which there is peace among men. We see really the result of this arrival, this one who is coming, this Messiah, this Savior. We see that there is this in-breaking with him, that the glory of God, the glory of heaven is really coming through him to earth. God, even in the incarnation, God is taking on human flesh. Heaven and earth, in a sense, are meeting here. This is, as we've been considering in Colossians, this is, through Christ, the beginning of the new creation when there will be this perfect unity between heaven and earth. Yet, in this very proclamation and in this dichotomy of heaven and earth, there is also an underlying truth. I mean, as you think about our own Christmas songs in this time of year, you know, the idea of glory to God in the highest is not so popular, but even our secular songs will say, yeah, peace on earth, it's a great thing. Even John Lennon will sing about it. And yet, the fact that there's a pronouncement of peace implies that there is not currently peace. That these two realms, heaven and earth, are, at the time of this announcement, they are at odds. Or in other words, we could say for the gospel that is being announced, the gospel of Jesus to be good news, that must be a gospel of peace. You might be familiar with the idea of the Pax Romana at this time, the idea of Roman peace, the empire-wide peace because of the military might of the Roman Empire. You can imagine as Caesar comes, he comes to your town, he conquers you, that this would have been announced, this peace, that now you are under the peace of the Roman Empire. I mean, imagine being a Jew in this time period, Caesar coming and saying, Caesar now is your savior, and he's announcing peace, but it's really not a true peace, it's a peace that is by force, right? Caesar is saying, it's gonna be peace because I am in control, and if you divert from that, it's not gonna be very peaceful for you. same way as we consider ourselves in light of God, right, that we are in hostility against God. There is not peace with God and man at this time, that even as we stand apart from Christ, we are standing as God's enemies. So I want to ask, how does Jesus bring about God's glory? How does he bring about God's peace, rather, in this coming as he comes in the flesh. How does Jesus, as he copies Caesar's model, does he come and just bring peace by the sword? Does he coerce everybody? Again, we don't have a savior who is Caesar, but a savior who is Christ, the Lord. And as Jesus comes, we see that he comes in a very different way. He comes, I mean, humbly, he comes as a baby in a manger. He doesn't come with military might as he could have. He doesn't come through force, he doesn't make peace and say it's my way or the highway. We're told he comes to make peace even as we hear in Colossians that he comes to make peace by the blood of his cross. Jesus comes to make that peace that is proclaimed here by standing in our place as a sinner condemned. Jesus comes not to force us into submission and destroying us as his enemies but Jesus comes in the flesh so that he could bear God's wrath for sin so that we as sinners, we as enemies of God might be reconciled to God. Jesus comes to do the very thing that's announced here, to give glory to God in the highest and to bring peace among those with whom he is well pleased. He lives a life that perfectly glorifies the Father. He loves him, he obeys him. He brings peace through his cross, he bears our sins. so that this message would ring true, so that God would be well-pleased with his people. Or as we sing in one of our favorite Christmas hymns, peace on earth and mercy mild, not just through coercion, not just through some happy message of Christmas and then we move on, but through God and sinners reconciled. That's the message of the gospel, Jesus coming to reconcile sinners to a holy God. This is why it's good news, because this is the peace that Jesus brings to us. Not only does Luke end here, or not only does he present the birth of Jesus as good news and this message of peace and reconciliation, but he also even shows us what our response, as with any message, there should be a right response, he shows us what our response to that good news ought to be. Finally, this evening, we see two responses in our text. And simply put, those two responses are praise and proclamation. That's what we see in this text. Our text begins with this very thing, at least when the angel comes. The angel comes and he is proclaiming, he's announcing this message. And then after he announces it, the heavenly host, they immediately begin to praise. They begin to glorify God for what he's doing. And it's not just limited to the angels we see. Even as the text ends, it ends with this very same movement. The shift now is not on the angels, but it moves now to the shepherds, those to whom the message is announced. We see in verse 15, the angels went away from them into heaven and the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing which had happened. They want to see with their own eyes what has just been announced, but then when they get there in verse 17, It says, when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. They can't keep their mouths shut. The first thing they do is they announce the very thing that has just been announced to them. And then as the passage ends, they tell Mary, Mary's pondering these things, and then as they leave, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told to them. Well, as we think about these shepherds and their actions, we might wanna stop and ask the questions of all people that you could announce a gospel to, why would you announce it to shepherds? Again, the announcements of the Roman Empire would have been before kings, before heads of state, and this announcement is in a field at night all alone with a few shepherds tending their sheep. We might have an idealized view of shepherds. We might think of them as these nice, peaceful people, you know, kind of going about their business in the fields, kind of detached from the cares of this world. And yet at this time, shepherds actually had quite a negative reputation. They were something like we might, even in old times in our own day, we might think of, you know, sailors might have a bad rap, right? You might have the voice or the language of a sailor. They're kind of these rough figures who are outside the norms of society. Well, in this time, that's what shepherds were like. They didn't mind the rules. They were often accused of stealing. They kind of let their sheep wander in places they sometimes shouldn't have wandered, eating fields that weren't theirs. In fact, so low was their reputation that they, in many cases, couldn't even give testimony in courts because they were so untrustworthy. Yet God decides to go to shepherds to announce this message to them, which is just such a beautiful picture of what God does for each of us. God doesn't go to the powerful, to the rich, to the religious leaders or the heads of state. He comes to shepherds. He comes to sinners and tax collectors, to prostitutes, to even Gentiles, if you could believe it, to those who are not high in the eyes of the world, but he announces to us this gospel message. So just like the shepherds, we hear this and what is our response or what ought it to be? It should be this very same thing, praise and proclamation. We praise God for this message and we announce it. We continue to declare what God has announced to us. So as we close, I just want us to see this is just a picture, really, of the church, what the church's role, what the church's job is. And if you could summarize what is the job of the church, it is, in many ways, these two things, to gather together, to praise God, to glorify Him, and to proclaim the message of the gospel. That is our charge. Why is that the case? That's because what we have received is a gospel message. Or in other words, that is all that there is left to do. I mean, what can you do if all has been done for you? What can be done if all has been proclaimed as finished? If God has made peace with you, what can you do but praise him, give thanks to him, and announce that message? I mean, what do you do when you get a good gift at Christmas? You rejoice in it, you give thanks to the giver, and then you tell everyone about what an awesome gift you've received. That's what we are charged to do as God's people. Brothers and sisters, as we conclude this evening, hear this good news that God has come to us, that God has accomplished our salvation in Christ, that this is the message of the gospel, that Christ has truly come to bring peace on earth. So let us go from here, let us enjoy our presence, let us enjoy our family time, but do so knowing this, that God has sent his son into the world to make peace. that because of Christ, God is well-pleased with his people, and that we truly have a gospel of a Savior who is Jesus Christ the Lord. Or as to quote the great theologian Linus one more time, that, Charlie Brown, is what Christmas is all about. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you once again for this message of the gospel of Christ coming for sinners, Lord, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. God, would that ring true in our hearts, we pray, and in our lives, not only in this season, but all the days of our lives as we rejoice in this message and as we rejoice in our Savior. For we do pray in Jesus' name, amen.