(055) Christmas: God Bridges the Gaps
Christmas: God Bridges the Gaps
Luke 2:8-14
December 14, 2008
Prep:
· Spurgeon’s sermon, BW’s Abba sermon
· Lewis’ Xmas and Aslan
· Ezekiel 1; Isaiah 6; Read Sc. outloud
Opening
Next week is the children’s production – bring family members. I have seen many heart touched by off-key singing.
· That means that this is my “Christmas sermon.”
I once an article about two separate holidays being celebrated on the same day: Xmas and Christmas. It really is not our primary concern to make the world put “Christ back into Christmas,” but to make sure that we keep him there.
Christmas centers, of course, on the story of the Incarnation, but behind that is the meaning of the Incarnation, which is bridging the gap, or rather, bridging the gaps:
1. The greatness of God.
2. The badness of sin.
Prayer: Be reminded afresh of just how big a deal this is.
Macro- and micro-history
Theologians speak of “salvation history,” which means that throughout the Bible you can chart the course of humanity’s creation, fall, redemption, restoration.
· God has been bridging the gaps between us and him.
This is not only the macro-history of humanity, but also of individuals, the micro-history of each of us.
there is a gap!
But before we can celebrate God bridging the gap, we have first have to be reminded that the gap is indeed there.
The challenge is modern American culture has gotten so familiar with God, that the idea of being terrified by him is foreign.
CS Lewis said that is it important to read old books, not because they were smarter or better, but because they have a different blind spot. And it seems to me that modern interpretations of the spiritual realm are dangerously tame.
· This is seen in the modern take on angels.
In contrast to that, the thing that struck me was that whenever an angel shows up, the first thing they say is “Fear not!”
· This counter to the cutesy image we have of them from art.
· They don’t evoke fear, but make me feel a little disturbed.
If this is true of how we think of angels, how much more of God!
A vital correction
We must understand how separated we are from God by his greatness and our sinfulness, so the first part of the sermon will remind us of the gap our culture ignores, to its peril.
· We must fully appreciate the problem before we can take hold of and rejoice in the solution.
An announcement of a cure for the Peruvian flu, would elicit mild curiosity, a cure for cancer would dominate the headlines.
Q Who has not been in some way touched by cancer?
The pain of cancer would give all of us cause to be very excited by such news. But much more we have all been devastated by our separation and rejoice at the cure.
The greatness of god
The first gap is God’s greatness, just how above us he is. Our culture tends to seriously underestimate God’s greatness. He is a buddy, a nice grandfather, or a vague force.
In contrast is the Biblical picture of God. Ezekiel gives a wild and bizarre picture. Moses can’t see God’s face and live.
Isaiah 6:1-5 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost [destroyed, ruined, doomed]; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
This is what meant by fear of the Lord. We must carefully distinguish between fear and being afraid, as we shall see.
Q Have you noticed there’s fear that attracts and that repels?
A thunderstorm, powerful waves, mighty waterfall fill me with an exquisite fear at their sheer power and force. I am afraid of what they can do, but I want to get as close as I dare.
In sharp contrast to the familiarity that our culture shows towards God, the right relation between Creator and creation will always include awe, “Exquisite fear,” and obedience.
· Lewis’ image of Aslan gets this right.
But even though “the fear of the Lord” is vital, whether or not you are a Christian, God’s greatness still separates us from God, it is a divide that he bridged on Christmas.
Ä But there is also the fear that separates, this was not the way it was meant to be, but became the way it had to be.
A history of Fearfulness
So the first gap that must be bridged is greatness of God, the second is the badness of sin. Not only is God unattainably high above us, he is also frighteningly good.
This was not meant to be this way. His goodness is meant to be joy, not terror, but sin turned it to fear within the first couple pages of the Bible.
Genesis 3:8-10 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
This began a long, long period of human history when being afraid was the normal state of affair between God and man, humans becoming literally enemies of God, choosing the tyranny of sin over the rule of God.
· There is no choice between those two – freedom and goodness are only found in submission to him.
In contrast to “walking in the garden,” humans now faced God with terror. When Israel first “met” God at Mt. Sinai, this was their experience and response.
Exodus 20:18-21 18 ¶ Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” 21 ¶ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
I used to think that the people were wrong to feel this way about God – doesn’t he want relationship with his people?
Deuteronomy 5:28-29 28 ¶ “And the LORD heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. 29 Oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!
From Sinai, God gave massive code of laws and sacrifices, “the law” which were not meant to build trust, comfort, or abate fear, but to increase fear.
· Every day in the temple, they saw animals killed in their place.
The entire OT system was designed to enforce the differences between Holy and profane, clean and unclean, and show just how separated they were from God.
· Fearfulness of God became a necessary evil, as humanity was so bound in sin, and God is so holy.
But how evil that is! That God, who is love and light, good and righteous, in whom there is there is no darkness, should be an object of terror.
Trying to bridge the gap ourselves
This describes human history (salvation history) up until about 3 BC. But it also describes our history as individuals – there remain two great divides between God and us.
Now, as then, we have dealt with those gaps on our:
1. We ignore the gaps, thinking that God is not that great or that our sinfulness is not that bad.
2. We acknowledge gap and live separated from God by fear.
Ä And this was the scene when angles greeted the shepherds – the Pharisees convinced themselves they were okay, and the common folk knew they could not be good enough.
Fear not!
Luke 2:8-14 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 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. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
· I hope in some measure you can better recognize and understand what a monumental shift in history this pronouncement is.
This message of “fear not” proclaimed that the gaps were about to be bridged in a way that vastly exceeded any of the promise in the OT Messianic prophecies.
1. The gap cause by the badness of sin was bridged by the words “A savior is born.”
He destroys the wall of sin and enmity divides us. We are no longer enemies of God.
Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
2. The gap caused by the greatness of God was bridged by the words “A baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.”
God become one of us. No longer is God a distance deity, incomprehensible and unknowable.
Hebrews 4:15 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
While “the fear of God” remains a key part of holiness, it was radically altered when God became one of us. In fact, “Fear of God” occurs far less frequently in the NT.
· Through Christ, for the first time our relationship with God becomes “Father.”
The meaning of Christmas
So the meaning of Christmas is not giving or getting (though God gave us the greatest gift), nor is it family (though we have been adopted into his), but it is “Fear Not!” for God, in Christ, has bridged the gaps between us and him.
But we must never forget that he is the one who bridges the gap. Nor can we ever forget that those gaps are there, only bridged. If we ever forget God’s greatness or sin’s badness, we so at our own peril.