“The Sacred of the Ordinary!”

Luke 2:21-40 (NAS95)

The Day after Christmas (1^st Sunday of Christmastide)

These are the events a week after the Christmas miracle of Immanuel, God with us! Then, the story goes silent for twelve years with these two verses, Luke 2:39-40: “When they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.”

Then, after a short snapshot of Jesus at twelve (41-50), the story goes quiet again, this time for even longer (approximately 18 years) with these two verses, Luke 2:51-52: “And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

So, with the exceptions of his miraculous birth story, dedication at eight days, and pilgrimage at twelve years old, the epic story of Jesus Christ, is silent on the first thirty years of His life. The next time we see Jesus is at His baptism, ready to fulfill the purpose of His life.

What happened in each of those ordinary days, along the way, in thirty years of preparation for the epic journey of Jesus Christ to the Cross—the gospel story, which is the recording of the most sacred life ever lived! There are some hints in our two passages:

While we normally celebrate the high points of Jesus’ epic life: His conception, birth, dedication, baptism, and ministry for three years that culminated with His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. And while we exhaustively discuss and debate His second coming and His promises for the future, we don’t discuss those first thirty years of preparation—the ordinary humdrum days of Jesus’ humanity in a small community as the son of Joseph and Mary, and then as a carpenter. Those ordinary years that daily shaped and prepared Jesus for his extraordinary ministry that has become the greatest Story ever told—the gospel—were just as sacred as the high days we call Christmas and Easter. Because, without each of those ordinary days, Jesus would not have grown up, increased in wisdom and stature, and in God’s grace (favor). Every day is sacred in the epic story called the gospel of Jesus Christ—the greatest Story!

I love epic stories! Whether it is a classic tale such as C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, or J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, or a contemporary epic story such as Ted Dekker’s The Circle Trilogy, or Andrew Peterson’s The Wingfeather Saga, I am all in and can’t get enough of an epic story well told! My heart comes alive and my soul years for something better as I join the characters in their story!

Epics spin tales of different worlds while, simultaneously, giving us glimpses into the very best and worst of what lies in each of our hearts. Epics tell us the truth in a way that gets beyond our normal defense mechanisms so that we may hear truths that are otherwise veiled from our eyes or caught in the shadows of our own choices. Epics are stories of biblical proportion and, whether the author knows it, point to the greatest Story ever told, because everything that is good and true and right comes from our Heavenly Father! Epics draw us in and rescue us from living in the humdrum of the ordinary by showing to us the sacred of the ordinary!

I want my life to point to the greatest Story ever told! I want my life to be fully alive—a life that causes other people to yearn for something more for their life. I believe, with every ounce of my being, that we can live this life today! Our stories are intended to point to His Story—the gospel of Jesus Christ! The gospel is the truest story ever told and it pierces the darkness of our souls and calms the storms of our hearts. We come alive when we find ourselves inside His Story! Jesus rescues us through His epic life, so that we may live the epic life today (John 10:10). Jesus calls us to join with Him in the great rescue of all human history—the epic story, called the gospel, to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). Our story points to His Story!

The Apostle Paul was radically rescued by Jesus Christ, and he devoted the rest of his life to telling others God’s epic story come alive in Him through a personal encounter with the resurrected Lord (Acts 9). It was not enough for Paul to experience the grace of God for Himself, it was His deepest desire for God’s people to be strong in the grace of God that comes through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul believed that the epic life of Jesus Christ was available to every person, not just for an eternity, but, also, for today!

The key is to learn how to grow strong in grace like Jesus Christ did, as recorded in our two theme passages of Luke 2:40 & 52, and like Paul did after His encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. Paul teaches us what it looks like for us to grow in God’s grace in 2 Timothy 2:1-7:

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

It is from this passage that we are going to launch our 2022 sermon series next Sunday and learn how to grow strong in God’s grace by remembering our sacred call within the ordinary details of our everyday lives. With the same discipline and intentionality of a soldier, athlete, and farmer, we are to grow strong in the grace of Jesus Christ and live the epic life today. In 2011, we learned the life of a champion athlete and, in 2022, we will learn the life of a soldier on mission!

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message here:

You can watch the video by clicking HERE.

The Prince of Prophets Points to the Prince of Peace!

Isaiah 9:6-7 (NAS95)

Isaiah’s ministry happened during the time of the decimation of the northern ten tribes of Israel by the Assyrian Empire, culminating in the late 8^th century BC, and the coming power of Babylon who would ultimately destroy Jerusalem in 586 BC, and bring the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the remnant of Israel, into captivity for 70 years, until released by the Persian Empire. These were darks days, indeed, with great political upheaval caused by shifts of political power, warfare on multiple fronts, and the internal disease of religious chaos, caused by Israel’s generational rebellion against God and His Law.

Isaiah was a bold voice for God! He called both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah to repentance, back to covenant faithfulness to the Law of God. Isaiah prophesied against foreign nations who were invading God’s people in the Promised Land. Finally, Isaiah was a voice of hope for God’s rescue and deliverance from their current darkness—there was hope if the people would return to God!

Jerusalem, the City of Peace, was being threatened and coming under judgment! God’s people were living in apostasy and their repentance was coming too late to stop what had been set in play for their judgment. But God… God who is merciful would relent and send a future Messiah who would redeem God’s people from their transgressions, and from judgment. Listen to one such prophecy, one that we celebrate every year at Christmas, found in Isaiah 9:6-7:

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Jesus defeated the power of death and the forces of evil to restore us back into right relationship with the Father; it is only “in Christ” that we can have “peace with” or “access to” God. When we talk about having peace with God, we must remember first and foremost that peace is the very essence of God—He is Jehovah Shalom (Judges 6:34-34). It is nothing we do; it is 100% His zeal that accomplishes this!

Peace is God’s presence—the miracle of Immanuel—His wholeness in a situation! That is what shalom means and this is God’s desire for His covenanted people, as the Prince of the Prophets declared in the following prophecies:

It is the promise of Immanuel: God is with us! God gives you peace by giving you Himself! Listen to the Christmas story as the fulfillment of God’s promise of Immanuel. From the Gospel of Jesus according to Luke 2:8-14,

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths 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.”

Why was the Christmas miracle of Immanuel necessary to fulfill God’s promise of peace? Because of sin, which is rebellion against God! Sin separates us from God (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Therefore, God acted in love to give us the solution, which in a solitary word is Immanuel! God with us! God gives you peace by giving you Himself!

The Prince of Prophets pointed to how the Prince of Peace would bring about our peace. Listen to one of the suffering servant songs, found in Isaiah 53:1-12:

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.

It was in fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Prince of Prophets that Jesus Christ came that Christmas morning over 2,000 years ago. Once and for all—to fulfill the good pleasure of His Father in Heaven. Jesus came to make a way for our sins to be forgiven so that there is no longer a separation between God and humanity, He took our enmity and gave us His peace! Through His birth in a Jewish manger and His death on a Roman cross, Jesus was exalted above all and given authority over death as witnessed by His resurrection. His shed blood covers the wrath of God for humanity’s sin (propitiation) and forever restores peace between people and God in a redeemed relationship through the forgiveness of sins. This is the work of the Prince of Peace who came so that God may dwell in us and us in Him!

Jesus is our peace, and His peace is to rule our lives. Listen to Colossians 3:12–17:

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

May the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, not just in this Christmas week, but in each and every day that we are blessed to live in the light of His love and grace.

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch the video by clicking HERE.