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ប្រតិចារិក
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Luke 2 and verse 21 to 35. Luke 2, 21 to 35. Here's how the Scripture reads. It says, And when eight days had passed before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord. Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for him the custom of the law. Then he took him into his arms and blessed God and said, Now, Lord, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.' And his father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be opposed. And a sword will pierce even your own soul to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. We began this year's Christmas sermons with a problem that we face with our traditions during this season. And we will end these very same set of Christmas sermons with addressing another problem that we face with our traditions during this season. The one we began with was that we can find ourselves during this time of year that we're exiting from now, singing Christmas carols without knowing why. And the solution to that problem was to go back to the original carolers and find out or rediscover why they were singing the very first Christmas carols. And that took us to the Gospel of Luke, because Luke, among all the four Gospel writers, is the only one who records for us the very first Christmas carols. And so, going there, we took up the very first one, took them up in order, the very first one being Elizabeth's Ave Maria, and saw that the reason she was singing was because in Mary's son we've been given a Savior. Then we moved to the second one, Mary's Magnificat and saw that the reason she was singing was because this salvation is for the least among us. And then moving on from there to the third carol, Zacharias Benedictus, we saw the reason he was singing is because not only is this salvation we've been given for the least among us, but it's also for the proudest among us. And then lastly, we moved to the fourth carol called the Gloria, sung by the angels, and there we saw the reason they were singing was sort of bringing it all to a conclusion that this salvation is for all of us. like a crescendo or a little point that swells and swells and swells until it reaches an explosion with the final point, namely that we've been given a Savior that is for all of us, this is the reason for the original Christmas carols, that God has good will toward humanity. And it isn't based, therefore, on your activity or your declarability. which is common in our day. Since we've rejected God and we still need some values to live by, it's popular today to say, I will value myself. I will assign a price tag to myself. I will define myself. I will set my goals myself. I will set what is important. myself and there's a half-truth there so you see people grappling in a godless humanistic state to reject negativity outside of them and sort of create a value system from within themselves. And that in and of itself is a work. That in and of itself requires effort and energy and pushback. And the gospel message is good news because it does not even require that of you. It does not come to you and say, if you will declare yourself right, and if you will push back the negative energy and assert who you are and what your goals are, then you may live a good life. That's not the gospel message. It's not based on your activity, on your declarativity, but simply on your humanity. That you are His image, that God simply has good will toward humans as humans across all socioeconomic statuses and hierarchies from the homeless man all the way to the president. God loves humanity equally. That's what the angels are singing about. That's what Glory to God in the highest because of good will toward man means. And this is the truth. that all of these, from Elizabeth to Mary to Zachariah to the angels, thought was too good a truth simply to be preached as we're doing this morning. It must also be sung. And that is because great things deserve to be sung. And since this is a great thing, the greatest of all things, it must constantly be sung. And this human action of singing is the means, or one of the means, this is a means, preaching, but it is singing that is also one of the means by which we address one another. by which we persuade one another that there is hope. And so, that is why it is so very important. But now we come to the fifth and the final Carol, which is the most unknown, It's called the Nukedimitus that is sung by Simeon, and it is here that we see the other problem that we need to face with our traditions during this season. The problem I'm talking about is this jarring juxtaposition between Christmas and New Year's. It's like Christmas and New Years, if they were a train, suddenly right after Christmas, there's this metal clinking, dislodging, and Christmas and all of its joy goes out of sight and down some ravine into the abyss. and you're left with the train carts for New Year's which are empty and stale and just white-walled and manila-folded and you must somehow inject some kind of life into this thing. And sometimes you feel it just on Christmas Day itself. if you have a mom who is one of those that takes down the decorations immediately after Christmas is over with. Maybe you have that and you see there can be this desire, like, don't take it down yet. It's Christmas Day, literally. At least wait till tomorrow. And you have these things that go on, and you wonder when do you take it down, when's the right time to take it down. Sometimes you feel it on Christmas Eve too, don't you? Because as it nears, as Christmas Day nears, and as if you've gone through enough Christmases over the years, you sort of know this stale moment is coming. and you begin to feel it, and then there's something in you that kind of begins to resent Christmas Eve even, because it's just the eve before the disappointment. You certainly feel it the next Sunday morning, because now it is customary for the pulpits to bring some encouraging word about the New Year, to go rummaging through the Scripture to find some sort of text that can be used to encourage folk as they look forward. And it is equally customary for those sermons to not be about Christmas. So, there is this jarring dislodgement of the train, once again, felt not just by the tidy mother who takes all the decorations down on Christmas Day, but even by the preacher in the sermon. You feel this jarring. It's over, it's gone, it's in the past. We must find something to build us up for the future. And the children, And all those that remain childlike of heart are left as though someone just stole their candy cane right out of their hand. And they wish it were back. And they're horrified and feel robbed. Now the question that I pose is what are we to make of this and do of this? Is it even a legitimate concern worth the time of day considering? Obviously, by being here this morning, I think so. So, hear me out. I'm not suggesting that there is something wrong with a New Year's sermon that uses content that is not about Christmas, or it's not from, not carried over from the Christmas sermons. I don't think you could say that for the simple reason that there is so much content in Scripture that is worth considering in propelling you forward into the new year, that is not about the incarnation. That's a fact. Nevertheless, I am worried that the reason, I do worry, that the reason it is so customary to do it the way that we do it, meaning, The vast majority of percentages of sermons that are preached on New Year's are not about the very same themes we just considered in Christmas. I worry that the reason that is so customary to do it that way is we have a deeply unbiblical built-in assumption, and even traditionally so, Namely, the assumption that it is not fitting to speak about the themes of Christmas for the New Year's sermon. That it would be strange to do so. And if that assumption is lurking anywhere within our subconscious and giving rise to the reason that the great percentage of New Year's sermons are not about the very same themes of Christmas, then let this sermon be my very first blast against it. Could it be that so many preachers, bloggers, podcasters, book readers, go rummaging through Scripture for a fresh topic to use for New Year's because they don't think the topics of Christmas can be used? Or are worth being used? Or are fitting to be used? Or that ought to be used? If so, what would be wrong with that? Allow me to use a quote that is most attributed to the late Francis Schaeffer, Christian philosopher and apologist of the 20th century. who was very influential, he was big on this certain phrase he would use, certain question he would ask, and it's called, how then shall we live? That's what he was known for. He was very great at taking art and film and sculpture and music and architecture. Like he could talk to us about the architecture and the pitch of this room. He could connect it to a worldview somehow and a philosophy and the ideas behind it. And so that was the kind of thinker he was. He was always trying to help us see that the way man lives and the culture that he builds is connected to his beliefs. Always trying to help us to see that as a man thinks within himself, so is he. That there are, as Sproul would put it, consequences to ideas. And Martin Lloyd-Jones, a contemporary, was famous for putting the same concern in terms of doctrine in life. Constantly stressing that the great problem of the modern church and the ancient church and of every church and of every individual Christian is to constantly keep connected and in the right way doctrine and life. theology, and practical Christian living. being greatly influenced by all these men, myself, and coming to Simeon's nuke, Demetus, and looking at our traditional shift from Christmas to New Year's, I cannot help but notice in this an unfortunate divorce between doctrine and life. existing between the divorce of Christmas and New Year's. Between this jarring between the doctrines we just finished dwelling upon for Christmas and the life that we begin talking about living for New Year's. To put what I see as the problem in terms of colors, What we typically are used to experiencing is a shift in color comparable to going from green to purple. What I am suggesting is it should be going to green to light green, dark green to light green. There should be a feel of continuity in it rather than total discontinuity and all of that is now in the past. Christmas should be felt in New Year's. Otherwise, we have sorely abused the Christmas doctrines. because they are not given to us merely to give us warm fuzzy feelings for one month out of the year and then to be stored in the attics of our heads collecting dust until we take them down the new year when it comes back again. That would be to treat them as doctrines that do not affect and are not to be coming out in the life we live the other eleven months of the year. So, what I want to suggest this morning and using Simeon's Newt and Demetus to do so and challenge us all with as you think about your New Year is that we connect New Year's to Christmas. And the reasoning that I propose to offer to you is the idea that it is just what we find here in the fifth and final carol called Nuc Demetius by Simeon. Here's what I mean. What do we find here? Well, the name Nuc Demetius, of course Latin as they all are, just means now I am able to be dismissed. You can hear it. It's just a transliteration almost. Now I am ready. Now I can be dismissed. And obviously as you read this account, This man means now he is ready to die. But dying is something he doesn't know exactly when it's going to take place, so it's just in his future at some point, so what he's saying could also be synonymously put as, now I'm ready to live out the rest of my days in peace until I die. Now I am ready to endure whatever else happens and to do it contentedly as a result of what I have seen here today. Now I am ready to go all the way to the end based on the salvation I just saw and held. Notice the themes in his song. Look at it in verse 29. Here is where he says, this is where the nuke dimitteth. Now you are releasing me. to depart in peace. That is the futuristic element. Notice the connection to doctrine in the past. The Christmas doctrine. 4, verse 30, My eyes have seen your salvation. What was Elizabeth's theme in the Ave Maria? Why is she praising Mary's womb? Because through your womb we've been given a Savior. That is where this began. That's the first thought of the Christmas carol topic. We've been given a Savior. But then notice he says, verse 31, "...which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples." That was what was emphasized by the angel, remember? Verse 10, "...which will be for all the people." and why it was given to the shepherds. And now we bring in the theme of Mary's Magnificat, that, well, it's for the least among us, and Zacharias is Benedictus, for the proudest among us, and the conclusion being, it's for all among us. And notice how he emphasizes that with that beautiful Hebraic synonymous parallelism in verse 32, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. This was the way they divided the world up. This was the Hatfield and the McCoys. This was the Black and the Whites. If you're watching, remember the Titans. This was just whatever the way is, you divide up the world, you put these people on the top deck in the Titanic, these people down here, whatever that way is, whatever the gurus present to you this new year as these are the people that get it and know how to live, these are the people who don't and don't know how to live, Whatever the categorization, the Christmas doctrine is meant to cover all of them. And we see Simeon emphasizing it here. Clearly then, this man is saying, as a result of the specific truth that we've been given a Savior, that is for the least among us, for the proudest among us, and therefore for all of us. So it's this central doctrine that God has goodwill toward all of us. He's saying, therefore, I now can depart in peace, whatever happens to me. Whatever hospital bed I may be laying on, whatever friend rejects me, whatever job I don't get, whatever boy I don't date, whatever toy breaks, I can go all the way to the end of my future on the timeline in peace. Because there's salvation and it's based on simply being human. God has good will toward humanity. So, this year, as you are traditionally forced by the waffle iron of your culture to think about New Year and to assess your life that way, you will think about it because it is built in to our culture. Might you try to follow the example of Simeon and connected to Christmas. Don't let the tree and the lights and everything just be like falling off into the inside out abyss of memory loss. And it's now gone. And you just have something else, like I said, this manila room, this windowless manila stagnant room of the new year, which you must now inject with life and meaning and purpose. in order to find value. Maybe think to yourself in the words of Schaeffer, how then shall I now live the rest of my life because of this great fact that in Mary's son I've been given a Savior And it's for the least among us, the proudest among us, and therefore for all among us. Certainly, the Gospel of Luke bears this out. I mean, if we were doing an exposition of the gospel of Luke, now the note has been struck, right? Now it makes sense to see Jesus dining with sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes. And now it makes sense to say, when you have an event, be sure to invite the crippled and the lame. Where did that come from? Well, obviously, this general idea that God has compassion and goodwill toward all the people. So Christians are to be people that are inclusive in the sense that no one is excluded. And no one is outside and we are rejecting the world's tendency to make us think that way. To constantly make us have a category of people who are unworthy or who don't belong in God's salvation program. So don't feel. Feel free if you like to go rummage through Scripture and find something else. But don't feel that you have to do it that way. Because the Christmas doctrines are insufficient. Because this is plenty enough doctrine indeed to live out. Surely there is plenty of room in my life and your life to somehow for it to show up that God's salvation program is for all humanity. So, this I suggest is the correct way to think of Christmas' relationship to New Year's. For if we do not think of it this way, I fear that we immediately fall, as soon as Christmas is over, as soon as it is over, we immediately fall into a works-based mind frame where someone from the outside of Scripture, through a blog, through an article, through a sermon, through a video, is going to tell me, life is about X. Fill it in, whatever it is. Setting your goals, accomplishing this, doing this with it. They're gonna tell me, they are telling me as I walk down the grocery store aisle, ads are coming at me, and people are talking to me at the birthday party when you sip the drink. Someone is trying to tell you this is what life is about. Life is about X, and if you don't have X, then you're not living it. This is what gives it meaning and gives it value. And it is typically, if it is not the gospel, always something you must do. It's about setting your goals or whatever. Okay, so you have to go buy a journal. And you have to now... It's about waking up at this time. Okay, you have to now live this way. You know? And you become a tense... soul because you felt like, well, this is what I have to do. I mean, this is what life is about. And if someone has a problem that interrupts that schedule, it's like, you get an argument. Why? Because you felt that, well, this is what life is about. And I can't let that go. Rather than saying life is about being human, And the fact that God has good will toward humans, that's what it's about. That's what is to show up. That's what is to grip you. That's what is to grip you when you look at other humans. that they're valuable to God and therefore ought to be valuable to me. They ought to be told, hello, good morning. They ought to be smiled at. Their names ought to be remembered. Their needs and concerns ought to be on your mind and communicated and care communicated. Why? Why? Because they're human. And it's godly to have good will toward humans. Simply because of their humanity and God's declarativity that He has declared them to be His image. And He has this purpose for them. And it does not originate within Him. Oh, I'm sorry, I declare my own worth. That is a work to be rejected by Christians. There is only one God, Isaiah tells us, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times His purpose that is going to come to pass. You and I, if we get out our little goal sheet without the conviction that life is a vapor And unless the Lord wills, we will fall over and die is to be arrogant." According to James. Go further. It is to be evil, he says. So when you fill it out, unless you fill it out with the conviction in the heart and the words coming out of your mouth, If the Lord wills, we will do this and this and this. You see, Scripture causes us to think and remember that there is only one God. There is only one entity that controls all things such that He can declare the end from the beginning. And He has the wisdom to know what is going to happen and not happen. But He says, based on that, turn to Me and be saved because I am God and there is no other. Why would you call out and cry out to this idol? It cannot answer you. It cannot deliver you. And don't fall into the trap of making yourself the idol. I now will declare, and I now will create, and I now will set the value system for everyone else to reckon with. No. Receive the beauty of the fact that the value system comes from outside me, from out of this world, anchored in a hard, fast, steady place. And it's not based on my activity. It's not based on my declared activity. But start there with yourself. Who are you? And why do you matter? And why should you get up and put your shoes on in the morning and start your coffee and settle your own soul right with the Lord so that you can then be a good friend and Christian to those around you? You need to start from the right thought too. Because if you don't, you're all wound up and pent up and can't help your friend. So, regardless of what has happened to you, regardless of the life that you feel did not turn out the way you wanted it to, even when you knew to think about how life would turn out, it still didn't turn out the right. The only way forward is a return to the gospel, to the Christmas message, and to remember that value is not determined by activity, declarativity, productivity. It's determined by humanity. God has good will toward humans and toward all of them. And that's the basis to build your life up and to move forward. And that's the basis to smile at the cash register and to find those around us that we can do good to. Let us reject the tendency of this tradition that has within it a structural divorce of doctrine and life that gets into our minds, this unbiblical way of thinking, and renew our minds to keep Christmas and New Year's together. Don't think that you have to go rummaging for new reasons to live a good life this new year. Find the fact that we have been given a Savior and that He is for all of us reason enough to carry you through life-changing deeds for the rest of the year. Let us say with Simeon, Nuke, Demetus. Now I can really live the rest of my life rightly based on this great, wonderful, glorious fact. This fact is the doctor's hammer that is to little hammer hitting the knee, causing the knee jerk of the new year. Let this truth of Christmas be the thing that propels you into the new year, rather than cutting it off and standing there with nothing, which you must now create as the encouragement of the new year. May the Lord bless you all and help you all and me as well. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for today and Lord, we bless you and thank you for gracious truth that you reveal to us that gives us strength and hope and encouragement. And Lord, we do indeed pray for every person who is here with their story, with their life, with their heart, with their mind, with their concerns. And I think of your words to your disciples, let not your heart be troubled, and how that means, Lord, you care for us, as Peter puts it, and therefore we are to throw our burdens upon you and come to you. So, Lord, may you use the things we've thought about this year for Christmas to draw us to yourself, to convince us to come to You and to find our meaning and purpose in You. And would You help us not to be children tossed here and there by the New Year's doctrines of the world and to get off track, but to rather be propelled by Christmas into the New Year. Lord, after we thank You and bless You and worship You for loving us and it having nothing to do with what we could do, but just the awareness, Lord, that You decided to love humanity, we pray that we would imitate You and be sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven who go about the world in our day, Lord. not just doing good to those within our own home, but Lord, having a warm heart of love and benevolence toward humanity in general. Would you make our faces shine bright and hopeful, Lord, to love those, Lord, who maybe especially seem unloved, do deeds of kindness this year, Lord. I think of how Titus says, our people must be careful to engage in good deeds. So Lord, may you help us to be careful to make sure that we are putting Christmas to work, that we are indeed concretely doing physical, tangible things. to the people that we know that you have brought into our life that we can serve. So Lord, we thank you for the graciousness of your way with us, and we pray that it may be a blessing to everyone who's gathered here today and helps them in their journey. In Jesus' name, amen.
In defense of Christmas carols - "The Gloria"
លេខសម្គាល់សេចក្ដីអធិប្បាយ | 1524315343219 |
រយៈពេល | 40:59 |
កាលបរិច្ឆេទ | |
ប្រភេទ | ការថ្វាយបង្គំថ្ងៃអាទិត្យ |
អត្ថបទព្រះគម្ពីរ | លូកា 2:21-35 |
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