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l This morning we are going to be talking about the word, PEACE.
l And we are going to be talking about the word PEACE in the context of Colossians Chapter ONE: Verses 15-20
o Thank You Again to Brad for reading those verses for us just a few minutes ago.
o If you have your Bibles with you and you want to follow along that is where we will be...
o If you want to use a pew Bible, you will find Colossians Chapter one on page (956)
o I will give you a moment to get there....
l (PRAY)
l I could imagine as someone sitting in Church, getting ready to listen to a preacher begin a sermon about Advent, you might be thinking:
o “What does this letter to the Colossians have to do with Christmas?”
o “What does a letter from Paul to a group of believers, who were likely meeting in a house Church have to do with Advent?
o “Shouldn’t we be reading something from Isaiah or Micah or Luke”?
o You might be asking: “Why do we really have to read the same story, year after year?”
l In one of the most iconic moments in modern American culture, as well as animation history: Charlie Brown once asked his friend Linus “Doesn’t anyone know what Christmas is all about?”
o Surely Christmas isn’t about presents even though we’ve commercialized it to no ends....
o Christmas isn’t about the Winter solstice even though opponents of Christianity will tell you about Christmas’s Pagan origins...
o Christmas isn’t just about Santa, and Elf on a Shelf, and Blinking lights attached to the roof lines of homes....
l “Doesn’t anymore know what Christmas is all about?”
o Well Linus knows.
o Linus didn’t hesitate.
o When asked what Christmas was all about Linus began to recite, from memory, Luke Chapter 2..
§ And our friend Linus ends it like this: “You shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in the 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 and goodwill towards men!”
l So, Linus tells us what Christmas about quite simply!
o According to Linus Christmas is about:
§ Praising God
§ And Peace on earth
o Pretty simple!
l Sometimes out of the mouth of a Child we get the best explanation for things that sometimes we make too complicated!
o So, let’s take our friend Linus’s advice:
o What is Christmas all about?
§ Praising God...and
§ Peace on Earth.
l First let’s talk about praising God.
l When we go to churches, or when we read the scriptures, we find that one of the most common ways that we find people praising God is through a prayer, a hymn, or a song!
o Ancient Israel was a very musical place!
§ We read in the Old Testament about how people sang and danced and blew trumpets all the time!
· They were praising God with music!
§ We read in 2 Samuel 14-15: 14 David was dancing[a] with all his might before the Lord wearing a linen ephod. 15 He and the whole house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of the ram’s horn.
· David was always singing and dancing and playing his harp...
o David liked to dance and praise so much it even started a marital dispute in his home! (but that’s a sermon for another day)
§ So it’s ok to emulate David in our praise to God!
§ There is an entire book in the Old Testament full of songs! You might have heard of it... it’s called the psalms!
§ This is all praise!
o Fast forward to today: The Church today is a very musical place!
§ (and if it is not, it SHOULD be!)
o Just look at this morning!
· We sang together some classic Hymns.
· We heard the sound of the organ filling the sanctuary praise!
· We heard the sound of God’s people singing filling the sanctuary with praise!
· God’s people should be a singing and praising people!
· Psalm 100 starts like this:
o Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
o Serve the LORD with gladness!
o Come into his presence with singing!
l So, we praise God with Music, we praise God with singing, and we praise God with Psalms.
l This should make us think of Christmas time!
l Christmas time is so musical!
l So that brings us now to Colossians Chapter One verse 15-20.
o This section in Paul’s letter to the Colossians is widely considered to be either a poem, hymn, or song!
o Which is why this passage is perfect for Christmas....
o Now I will say there is some debate about whether or not this passage is a hymn but...
o I will briefly tell you why I think this idea is worth considering...
o Arthur Patzia writes about the Christ Hymn (Colossians 1:15-20): The passage contains many words and phrases not found elsewhere in Paul’s writings, and it was not uncommon for Paul to incorporate previously existing traditional material into his letters. Normally this included hymns, confessions, creeds, and liturgical materials used by the early church. When this occurs, Paul could be regarded more as an editor than as the original author.
o So, what now is this Hymn about? It seems to have two central themes.
o Images and PEACE...
o And the Christmas season is a season that if full of images...
§ Think about the nativity scene for example...
· Shepherds with their staffs....
· Kings with their gifts...
· A baby in a manger...
l Here in Colossians chapter One, we see Two very important images.
l The first in verse 15: He (JESUS) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
o
