O Come All Ye Faithful

We’re continuing today in out “Songs and Scriptures of Christ’s Coming” series, and last week we looked at “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” And we saw the past, present, and future blessings of the Advent - the coming of Christ.

This week, we turn again to the Carol that we just sang together, O Come All Ye Faithful.

This one happens to be one of my favorites, and you might say, well you did pick these. Though it is not my most favorite, we will get to that one in a couple of weeks.

O Come, All Ye Faithful actually has an unknown original origin. We have a translation of it in our hymnals, because it was originally written in Latin.

You have doubtless heard that resonant Baritone of Bing Crosby singing

Adeste Fidelis, Laeti Trimuphantes .

I’ll stop there, because I’m not Bing Crosby and my Latin is about as good as my jokes are.

But it has become a loved and blessed Carol this time of year, and it really makes wonderful application of the events and truths surrounding the Incarnation.

It alludes to the Wise-Men’s journey to see this new-born king.

It alludes to the Angel’s announcement to the Shepherd, giving glory to God in the Highest.

It Alludes to John’s version of the Christmas Story, where he gives the “story behind the story” in John 1, letting us know that Jesus is the Eternal Logos, the Word, full of Grace and Truth.

But the refrain of the song, the chorus, is really the key application. O Come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

That is the message of the Carol, that is the message of this sermon today. Adoring the Lord. What does that mean? How do we do that? Why is it important?

We think of Christ at Christmas, and we think of him as that new-born baby, and we have no trouble imagining fawning over a little infant, but Adoring the Lord Jesus is more than admiring a new-born baby, it is living as if this Lord is everything.

Adoring the Lord Jesus is more than admiring a new-born baby, it is living as if this Lord is everything.

Come and Behold Him, Born the King

As the carol begins, there is a call for the “faithful” to come to Bethlehem and behold Him, the one born the King of Angels.

As we’ve been studying Matthew, I love the allusion to Christ’s Kingship. That is Matthew’s primary theme, the Kingship of Jesus, the Kingdom of God, and also, that languague in the Christmas story brings our mind to Matthew’s retelling of the account of the Magi.

Matthew 2:1–2 (ESV)

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

Now, not much is known about these Magi, these wise-men. We speculate based on this passage and other hints in history that they were royal astrologers, perhaps from Babylon. And we have no way of knowing much about their religion, except for the fact that they had access to the Hebrew Scriptures, and they took interest in the prophecy concerning the Star.

Maybe, if they were from Babylon, the influence of Daniel’s faithfulness left behind some interest in the Hebrews and their Religion. We can only speculate.

But we do know, that because of the Scriptures they were aware of, and the Miraculous work of God to place this star in their gaze, they came with their entourage and fanfare to find the newborn King of the Jews, and they came with the intention of bowing before Him, and giving gifts.

Of course, this started Herod into an uproar - as they came into Jerusalem asking, “where is the new King? Where is the newborn King?” And Herod’s ploy and plot was to get them to tell Him when they found the baby, so he could destroy him. But of course, Jesus was preserved, and the Magi accomplished their mission also.

Matthew 2:9–11 (ESV)

After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Now, beyond the mere excitement of finding their intended destination, and a sense of accomplishment, what could possibly have caused these esteemed men to fall down and worship this little baby?

Well, all that went into it - the prophecy of scripture, the miraculous star, the leading to this house, it is clear that the Lord had done a work in the hearts and minds of these wise-men also. And prompted by the Holy Spirit at seeing the true King of the Jews, they worshipped.

The word worship means to bow down, to prostrate, to make obeisance. And it is interesting how Matthew doubles the idea, because he says it in two words.

They fell down - literally, they dropped to the ground suddenly, and worshipped, which means to make oneself low.

There was something that came over them, and then something that came from them.

And that, truly, is how it is with our worship of the Lord. The Spirit of God within us cries out, and the words of a song or a prayer or a “hallelujah” come from us.

Something happens “to us” and “in us” before true worship comes from us. God desires, as Jesus told the Woman at the Well, those worshipers who worship in Spirit and in truth. And on that day, these Magi, though perhaps pagan in their origin, were overcome with God’s presence, and they worshipped.

Has God done something in you so profound and wonderful, that you cannot help but worship? Does the Holy Spirit in you resound with the fact that Jesus is the King, and he deserves our bowing, our humbling, our worship?

O come, Let Us Adore Him!

Glory to God, all Glory in the Highest

The second verse of the Carol brings in the wonderful angelic pronouncement to the Shepherds. Now, I’ve heard entire sermons on whether or not Angels actually sing or whether they just speak. And after listening to those sermons I’ve said, “Well that was mostly a waste of my time!” Does the Bible say that angels sing? No it doesn’t. Does it matter whether they sang these words or said them? Not really. What matters is what they said, or sung, or proclaimed, and that is what we will focus on.

We find ourselves again near Bethlehem, A small town with that famous background, yet the name of David, though great, would fade into the background of the name of another who would be born there, another King, a better David, and we read about that in Luke 2.

Luke 2:8–14 (ESV)

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Time wouldn’t permit us to go into much detail, and we certainly have in the past year, but the shepherds were certainly an awkward choice to which the First Noel would come, so to speak.

They were maligned as outsiders and untrustworthy by the society at large. Yet, their task was incredibly important. To keep and raise the sheep, sheep being a central element in Jewish worship. The lamb with imagery going all the way back to the Exodus and the Passover, and of course, that Lamb’s imagery fulfilled in the true Spotless Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

Well, the angel announcement to these humble shepherds was awe-inspiring, to say the least. They were terrified beyond terrified, yet the message to them was “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy.”

The word for “good news” is Gospel. Fear not, for behold I bring you the gospel of great Joy.

And what was that Gospel of great joy? Unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

That was the heralded message of the shepherds.

Fear not, because of the gospel of great joy! Christ the Lord is born today, and he is the Savior! O come, let us adore Him!

After giving the shepherds the instructions on how to find this child, their purpose and message continued with a grand pronouncement!

Now there was not one angel, but a multitude! An uncountable number to the human eye, no doubt. And what were they doing?

They were praising God and giving another twofold message.

Glory to God in the Highest!

And peace on earth to those with whom he is well-pleased.

Now that is a wonderful message

Glory to god in the highest

That is the proclamation after the news of the Savior. The Savior is come, Glory to God!

That is the great news of salvation. Salvation comes from God alone, and every ounce of our being should cry out and live out Glory to God because of the salvation which he has wrought.

The plan, the person, and the work of Salvation is all God. God in flesh, the person of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

You ask, what is the good news, what is the Gospel? Well, the angels put it so simply here, and we can share in this simplicity - Christ the Lord is the Gospel. He is the good news.

The focus and weight of the Gospel is not a mere statement, it is not a mere thought, it is not mere good intention or a to-do list, no, the weight and glory and goodness of the Gospel is the person, Jesus Christ, our savior.

Peace on earth

Some manuscripts have, “peace on earth, good will to men.” The idea is really preserved in either statement. The fact is that peace on earth follows from what God has done in Jesus Christ.

Bringing peace to men in general, in one sense, but in bringing true peace to those who find Christ to be their redeemer. A particular peace, a specific peace that is grounded, again, not just in an idea or in good intentions, but in the person of Jesus Christ.

That peace that surpasses understanding is made possible by the work that surpasses understanding - the coming of God Himself into the world, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, taking on flesh. That is the wonder, the amazement, and to that we must agree with the angels - Glory to God in the highest.

Word of the Father, Now in Flesh Appearing

I love the message of Verse 3, because it brings the story of the Wise Men worshiping that little King, and the shepherds rejoicing at the announcement of the Gospel of Great Joy, into application in our lives. And it does so by telling us just who that little baby is.

John 1:1 (ESV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John’s Gospel doesn’t start with a narrative about Jesus birth, like luke, nor does it start with a Genealogy of Christ’s lineage, like Mark and Matthew. John’s Gospel starts and sets the state by announcing how grand and glorious and wonderful and curious and amazing an event has taken place in this Incarnation. John 1:1-14 has been called “The Story behind the Christmas Story” because it lays out just how profound the work of God is in the incarnation.

John starts with this idea of the “Logos.” We have it translated as “word,” but it means more than letters of ink on a page or even a spoken word.

To the Greeks, the idea of the “Logos” was around since the 5th century B.C., and it referred to an Abstract Principle, and the idea of an “ordering reality” of the universe. There was, in theory, to the Greeks, something that ordered and unified existence. That was about as specific as it Got, though. And while it is a good and true though to think that something is at the center of everything, it doesn’t do us much good for it to be only a thought or an idea.

Well, John, brilliantly using this term, is in essence saying, “yes, there is something that orders and unifies all existence, and it is more than just an idea, it is a person, a being, Yahweh, the One true God.”

John goes on to explain how this “Word” or “Logos” was not just a force, but a being who acted. He acted in creating. He is the source of Life and Light to all creation.

John 1:1 gives the summary statement, that this “Logos” was with God, and he was God. But the truth is further enumerated in verse 14.

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Yes, there is a unifying and ordering factor central to all existence - and He has a name. It is Jesus Christ, the only Son from the Father. This is John’s “Christmas” message. That Jesus, the one born and laid in that manger, the one who grew up to be the most amazing and singularly important figure to ever walk the earth, is none other than the Second person of the Godhead.

The guiding and unifying and life-source of all is not an idea, but a person.

And God the Son came to this earth, taking on flesh, displaying His glory, and he was full of Grace and Truth.

John goes on to say, Moses gave the law, he gave truth, but with Jesus came that display of Grace and Truth. Moses spoke for God, but Jesus speaks as God. Moses got a glimpse of God’s glory, but Jesus Christ reveals the Father in a way that only the Son can do.

The Person of Christ, the one whom we adore, is the center and source of all existence. He is the one who gives life generally, but he is also the one who gives true life, eternal life, living water, new birth.

John 1:12–13 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Do you see that? God stepped into the world He created and acted - and in his action, he calls people to himself. And those who believe, are born again as children of God. Born, not of the will of the flesh, but because of God.

So we say, “O come, Let us adore Him!” Because without him, we have no second birth. We have no life. We have no light. Nothing in man could produce the change and transformation and new life that mankind needs. God had to do it, and He did do it, by Jesus Christ, the God-man, coming to this earth to display Grace and Truth.

O Come Let Us Adore Him

All of that leads us to the application, which again, is the chorus of the song.

O Come, let us adore Him

O Come, let us adore Him

O Come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

The theme of this second week in Advent is “Love.” And rightly, we see and think of the love that was displayed for us in the coming of Jesus Christ. But it is only right and fitting, then, to turn around and consider our love of Him.

Adoration - it can mean “deep love and respect,” but its greater meaning is “worship and veneration.”

That is what we owe to this lovely Lord, this Wonderful Savior. It is this adoration which is more than just respect and love, it certainly includes those things, but it is worship.

Psalm 73:25–26 (ESV)

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

The kind of Adoration that Christ’s coming calls for is this kind of adoration.

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.”

Can we say that? Can we proclaim that kind of Adoration? Now, I understand that there are levels of love and appreciation and desire and longing. Certainly, we love our family, we love our friends, we appreciate the physical things of earth and the blessings of life.

But consider this, that apart from the Lord, we would have none of this. None of it! Apart from the Lord, we wouldn’t be! We wouldn’t exist.

As we saw in John 1, Jesus is the Word - the center, the source, the creator and sustainer of everything. Where does he fall in our levels of love and adoration?

When we consider all the grandness and beauty of the earth, all the joys of living and loving and existing in such a place, the sweetness of relationship and laughter, the brilliance of a sunrise or a sunset, the glistening spark of the moonlight on a calm lake. The song of a cardinal that makes us look for that bright-red plumage, the swishing of water that makes us look for a brook or a stream, the warmness of the sun that hits us on a frigid day, or the cool breeze that we welcome when we’re working in a hayfield.

When we think of all these blessings, might we simply place Jesus among those blessings? Might we only see Him as “one of those” in stead of “over all?’

Consider Paul’s words in Colossians 1. He really says the same thing that John did, just expounds a bit.

Colossians 1:15–18 ESV

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Do you see those key things,

All things created By Him and For Him.

He is Before all things.

In Him they hold together.

In everything preeminent.

Those are not just ways to think about Jesus, they are truths that tell us exactly where He fits in the big puzzle of life.

He isn’t a piece of the puzzle, he isn’t even the box the puzzle comes in. He is the completion of the puzzle, the creator of the puzzle, and the glue that holds the puzzle together. Yet, somehow, miraculously, the puzzle-maker put himself inside the puzzle in order to put the puzzle back together!

He is before all things, above all things, and preeminent in all things.

This is Adoration - to see and know Jesus in His rightful place.

We consider Jesus at Advent as a little baby in the manger, and it is a natural thing to sort of “adore” a little baby. But there is a sense in which we can say we “adore” christ without actually adoring Him.

For instance, our new baby Todd is a joy and a treasure. And many people love Him already.

In one sense of the word, i can say that I really adore that little baby boy. Now, consider that I might take Todd and put him in a stroller and stroll him through Hannaford, a grocery story, and while I’m stopped looking at the cuts of pork in the deli, a nice lady might come up and say, “what a lovely little baby! He is so cute, I simply adore his little face!”

Now, does that lady love and adore Todd in the same way I do?

Of course not. She adores him in that she enjoyed the experience of getting to see him, and the cuteness of a baby brought her some temporary pleasure.

But I adore Him in that tomorrow morning, I’m going to wake up and go to work in order to pay for his diapers.

I adore Him in that I am going to do everyting in my power to keep a safe and loving home, and to raise him and teach him and train him and nurture him.

I adore him in such a way that my entire life is different now that He is part of it, just as with our other two children.

You see, there is a way we can adore Christ like a bypasser adores a little baby. A nod, a wink, a smile.

There is a way we can adore Christ from a distance, in which we can say, “Isn’t it so nice to think of what Jesus did!”

There is a way we can adore him, even theologically, and say “These truths are wonderful to ponder! They give me great joy!”

But there is true adoration, which is worship, falling down, which does something in us and through us.

There is true adoration of Christ which changes us. True adoration which says “because Jesus Christ is my savior, my life will reflect it.”

It is no wonder that when asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with everything in you, and love your neighbor.”

Because there is something about love of God that drives us to do more than think, or even speak, but it changes us.

John 14:15–16 (ESV)

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever”

If you love me, keep my commandments! Now, I’m going to give you a helper, because you can’t do it yourself, but there is still going to be a real reflection of your love for me in the way your life looks!

The question for us becomes, then, how do we adore Christ in every facet of life?

Rather than adoring Him as part of life, how do we adore Him in all things?

As a husband, how do i Adore Christ while i love my wife?

As a dad, how do I adore Christ while i raise my children.

As a pastor, how do I adore Christ as I study and pray and shepherd?

As a worker, how do I adore Christ as I swing a hammer?

We adore Christ in all things by letting all things bow before Him - our life as worship. Our living as an offering. As a sacrifice that gives glory where glory is due - to the Lord.

Romans 12:1 (ESV)

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

So, do you adore Christ?

Do you truly adore Him? Can you say, “whom have I in heaven but you, and there is nothing on earth I desire but you?”

O Come, Let Us Adore Him, Christ the Lord.