The Glory & Peace Of The King
Before we get into today’s message I want to celebrate two quick things. The first thing is that we had a great student ministry Christmas Party, with about 40 middle school and high school students in attendance! So let’s praise God for that!...Special thanks to Seth and our student ministry volunteers for making it a great end of the year party, and we’re looking forward to seeing what God will do in our student ministry in 2025. The second thing to celebrate is a few weeks ago I mentioned we want to be the kind of church that cares for people both in and outside our church. So when Residing Hope Children’s Home told us they are caring for children in Florida who needed pillows and comforters, we stepped in and met that need by raising 20 pillows and 30 comforters. So let’s praise God for that!...This is a part of us transitioning into our 2025 focus, which is to help bring much joy into our lives, our city, and our world. It’s because of your generosity that we’ve been able to bring some joy into the lives of those children who needed a pillow to rest their heads, and a comforter to keep them warm. So thanks for your generosity in helping us meet this need in our local area.
Now as for today, we’re continuing our teaching series called Advent. The word advent means to arrive or to come, so what we’re doing is we’re exploring some of the gifts King Jesus brought us with his 1st coming, and what it means for our lives today as we wait for the arrival of his 2nd coming. So far in this series we’ve talked about how Jesus brought us the gift of hope and the gift of love. We’ve talked about how we’ve misplaced our love for the king, but the king never misplaces his love for us. This week we’re talking about how Jesus brought us the gift of his glory and peace. We’re talking about how when we give Jesus glory, it’ll fill our hearts with peace. But when we give ourselves glory, it’ll rob our hearts of peace. For example, when we focus on giving ourselves glory, we might wrestle with measuring how great we are compared to others, which can lead to insecurity and envy. When we focus on giving ourselves glory, we might wrestle with failure if we don’t succeed in something, which can lead to feeling worthless and depressed. When we focus on giving ourselves glory, we might wrestle with relationships as we focus on meeting our self-centered needs instead of the needs of others, which can lead to self-centered relational conflicts. The point is when we focus on giving ourselves glory, it’ll rob our hearts of peace in so many different ways. So today we’re talking about focusing on a much better glory and peace, which is the glory and peace of Jesus. Let’s turn to Luke ch. 2 and get into it. If you open your bible to the middle and keep turning right, you’ll find Luke. We’ll be in Luke 2:8-10, and the title of the message is The Glory and Peace Of The King. The big idea of the message is we need to be glory givers, instead of glory thieves...We need to be glory givers, instead of glory thieves..
Here’s your context. At this point in history Israel is under Roman rule, so the people who appear to have glorified power are Caesar Augustus, the Roman Governor Quirinius, and Roman citizens. But the one with the real glorified power is God, it’s Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem. His birth is about to be announced to some shepherds, and as we study this text we’ll learn about The Problem, The Effect, and The Solution. We’ll learn about the problem of being glory thieves; the effect it has on our peace; and the solution to restoring peace in our hearts. Let’s check it out.
Luke 2:8-20 states, “In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth, and lying in a manger.’” If you notice the angel comes proclaiming good news, and I want you to remember that phrase good news, because I’ll come back to it later. But for now just know the angel is giving a little glimpse into what that good news is. It’s that a savior was born, and that savior is Jesus. In vs. 11 the angel says he’s the messiah, which means anointed one or anointed savior. But the angel also says he’s Lord, which means he’s God, and we should want him ruling over every aspect of our lives. It also means because he’s God, there isn’t anything he can’t do or accomplish in our lives. So this really is good news, because it means when you have a relationship with Jesus, it’s unlike any other relationship you can have. It’s a relationship with both a savior and Lord, with both a savior and God.
Vs. 13, “Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 14 ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven...’” You know what these angels are doing? They’re doing what they were created to do, which is to give glory to God. They’re doing what we were created to do, which is to give glory to God. Everything in creation was originally intended to give glory to God, and be like a finger pointing us to the Creator who created us. John Piper states, “Open your eyes! Do you see it? Do you hear it? He shouts through the billowing clouds. He shouts through the endless blue summer sky. He shouts with gold on the horizon in the morning, and through the breathtaking expanse of galaxies and stars at night. Don’t you see it? Don’t you love it? In all these things he’s shouting ‘I am glorious!’” Every morning when we wake up and step outside creation is shouting at us. It’s like a finger pointing out the incredible glories of the incredible Creator who created us. But the problem, is we ignore it...C.S. Lewis says the problem, is we’re like a dumb dog whose master keeps pointing him to something great, but the dog keeps missing it because all he sees is the master’s finger and licks it...Every morning when we wake up and step outside creation keeps shouting and pointing us to Jesus, but we keep missing it. We don’t have angels shouting at us like the shepherds, but we have creation shouting and we ignore it.
The other problem, is we’re glory thieves. So not only do we ignore the glory of God, but we’re also glory thieves who steal the glory of God. While the rest of creation is shouting God’s glorious, we’re shouting we’re glorious. We’re shouting “Look at my athletic achievements. Look at my academic achievements. Look at my career and ministry achievements! Look at my nice clothes, my nice house, my nice car. Look at me, because I’m the one who’s glorious!” While the rest of creation is shouting God’s glorious, we’re shouting we’re glorious. We’re glory thieves constantly seeking glory for ourselves or giving glory to something else instead of God, and it’s because every day there are lesser glories competing for a spot in our hearts. Every day there are lesser glories that we treat as greater glories, that we treat as more precious to us than God, and we convince ourselves we can’t have peace in our hearts and lives without those things. The problem isn’t with us enjoying those things, it’s with us putting those things in a glory seat only God deserves. We put all kinds of things and people we admire in a glory seat only God deserves, and when we do that our lives become out of alignment with God’s intended purposes, which is to give glory to Jesus in a world that’s seeking its own glory. George Whitefield once said, “Haven’t you ever noticed when you come near the animals they growl at us, they bark at us, and the birds screech and fly away? Do you know why? It’s because they know we have a quarrel with their Master.” Simply put, we were created to do what the angels and the rest of creation is doing. We were created to give glory to God, and to be like a finger that points others to the glory of God.
Again vs. 13, “Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 14 ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!’” There’s the effect that comes from the glory of God. It’s the effect that comes from the glorious savior Jesus, and it’s peace on earth. First the angel points to the glory of God, then comes the peace from God. It’s the glory of God that leads to the peace from God. This means being glory thieves won’t ever lead to a peaceful heart. It’s because none of the lesser glories we’re seeking can ever satisfy our hearts, since they’re only meant to point us to the greater glory of Jesus who can satisfy our hearts. The reason we aren’t always living with a peaceful heart, is because we’re glory thieves who are often living for our own glory instead of for God’s glory. We’re often trying to be little gods in control of our own lives, instead of trusting God to be in control of our lives.
This happened to me last week when I was struggling with an issue that was beyond my control. I started to get frustrated, my heart wasn’t at peace, and so I decided to spend some time with the Lord. I went to a park to pray, to read my bible, and I came across Psalm 28 written by King David. King David says in Psalm 28:7, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.” After reading that I realized I wasn’t trusting the Lord with this issue, and the effect was my heart wasn’t helped, it wasn’t at peace. The reason my heart wasn’t helped or at peace is because I was trying to BE god, instead of trusting IN God. I wonder if some of you are doing the same. I wonder if some of you are trying to BE god, instead of trusting IN God. The areas in our hearts where we’re trusting the Lord, are the areas where our hearts will be helped and at peace. The areas in our hearts where we aren’t trusting the Lord, are the areas where our hearts won’t be helped and at peace. Our hearts are helped and at peace in the areas where we’re trusting and giving glory to God, not in the areas where we’re trying to be god. Where in your life are you not trusting the Lord?...Where in your life are you not giving glory to God, instead you’re trying to be god?...Where in your life is your heart not at peace?...The deeper we trust in our relationship with the Lord, the deeper our hearts will be at peace in life. The deeper we trust in our relationship with the Lord, the deeper we can enjoy the peace on earth Jesus came to offer.
Again vs. 14, “‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!’ 15 When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ 16 They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.” There’s the solution to the problem of being glory thieves, and the effects it has on our peace. The solution, is the baby lying in the manger. The solution, is found in Jesus. In vs. 10-11 I told you to remember what the angel was proclaiming, and it’s the good news that a savior was born. It’s the good news of the Christmas narrative, which is that Jesus is our savior and our Lord. He’s our incarnate God who came to live the perfect God glorifying life we haven’t lived, and then died the death we deserved to die for being glory thieves. He did this so we can enjoy a restored peaceful relationship with God. The more we walk in our restored peaceful relationship with God, the more we’ll enjoy restored peace in our hearts and lives. This is the good news of the Christmas narrative, and I want you to notice something very important about this. I want you to notice the angel didn’t say, “I bring you good advice.” The angel said, “I bring you good news!” This is important because a lot of people view Jesus as someone who gives good advice, instead of viewing him as a savior. They view Jesus as a therapist, instead of a savior. Jesus is certainly a great therapist, a wonderful counselor for our lives, but that isn’t the primary reason he came. The primary reason he came isn’t to be our therapist, it’s to be our savior. The angel said the primary reason he came isn’t to give us good advice, it’s to give us good news, that a savior was born.
Now this is what makes Christianity so much different from every other religion, theology, philosophy, spiritual leader, therapist, and therapy in the world. It’s that all those things can give you good advice on how to change your life, but they can’t give you a savior with the power to help change your heart. No matter how hard you try, you can't change and escape your corrupt heart. You can change cities, change churches, change jobs, change schools, change spouses, change friends, change therapists for more good advice, but the one thing you can’t change and escape is your corrupt heart. If you could change your corrupt heart then you would have done it already, but you can’t which is exactly why you need a savior to save and transform your heart. Our world isn’t a mess because we’re lacking good advice, it’s a mess because we have corrupt, self-seeking, self-glorifying hearts. C.S. Lewis states, “There’s been no lack of good advice for the last 4000 years. A bit more wouldn’t have made any difference...We’ve never followed the advice of the great teachers, so why would we be more likely to follow Jesus over any others? Because he’s the best moral teacher? That makes it even less likely to be able to follow him, because if we can’t follow the elementary lessons, are we likely to follow the most advanced ones? If Christianity only means one more bit of good advice, then Christianity is of no importance.” He says it’s of no importance because we’ll just fail to live out that advice, just like we fail to live out some of the elementary advice we’re given. But thankfully Jesus didn’t come to give us good advice, he came to give us good news. He didn’t come to just be our therapist, he came to be our savior and Lord. He came to save and transform our hearts...He came to save and transform our hearts, back to seeking the glory and peace of God in relationship with him. The deeper you walk and trust in your relationship with him, the deeper the transformation and peace in your heart will be.
Vs. 17, “The shepherds reported the message they were told about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.” Notice the shepherds start glorifying and praising God like the angels. They start doing what they were created to do, which is to give glory to God. If you live giving glory to God and trust in Jesus as your greater savior, you’ll enjoy a peaceful heart this Christmas season. But if you live as a glory thief and trust in yourself or something else as a lesser savior, you’ll be robbed of a peaceful heart.
The big idea of the message is we need to be glory givers, instead of glory thieves...We need to be glory givers, instead of glory thieves...What’s that look like for you?...What’s it look like for you to be a glory giver, instead of a glory thief?...What’s it look like for you to give glory to God in your marriage, your family, your friendships?...What’s it look like for you to give glory to God in your school, in your workplace, in the use of your technology?...Where in your life are you being a glory thief, and what needs to happen to change that?...Luke 2 teaches us to give glory to God like the angel and shepherds did, and when we do this it’ll fill our hearts with peace. But when we don’t do this, when we live as glory thieves, it’ll rob our hearts and lives of peace.
The Christmas narrative is good news not good advice, because it means we have a savior and Lord we can walk with to help transform our self-glorifying hearts and lives. It means Psalm 28:7, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.” The more you walk with Jesus and trust in him, the more your heart will be helped by him. The more you walk with Jesus and trust in him, the more you’ll enjoy a transformed, peaceful, good news life. Don't settle for lesser glories that can’t change your heart, bring peace, or truly satisfy, when you have the opportunity to walk with the greater glorious savior who can...Let’s pray...