Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is
an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,
with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.
We invite you to connect with us from wherever
you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our
mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed
by this week's sermon. We're in our Advent series,
our third Sunday of Advent. In our first Sunday
of Advent, Pastor Pablo led us through a study
of hope, looking back at the prophecies that
God fulfilled in Jesus. And by seeing God's faithfulness,
our faith is built. We take that faith and we
turn it forward to the promises yet to come.
And Advent is about waiting for that. Last week,
Nelson talked to us about peace. a peace that
was a big contrast to the shallow peace enforced
by swords and spears for the benefit of those
who were rich enough or influential enough and
contrasted that with the peace of God that was
brought for all that would turn to him. And this
week we look at joy. So as we look again at the
Christmas story, Yes, the same story we looked
at last week, but a new angle on the shepherds
and the angels. I want to paraphrase the angels'
message and immediately make it applicational.
So read this out loud with me. Good news to them
is great joy for all. Wait for it. Now this scripture
doesn't say wait for it, but it does say wait
in other places. So I'm importing a little bit.
But to help us remember this, get your hands
ready, please. All right. Good news. Put it up
here. Because back then they had no Twitter.
You had to yell it. Good news to them. That's
the shepherds. Is great joy for all. Now hold
out your left hand. Scoop all the cookie dough
out of that bowl. Don't leave one crumb. Lay
it there in front for all. Try that from the
beginning. Good news to them is great joy for
all. Wait for it. All right. Now you're going
to help me with the outline of the sermon. It
sticks pretty close to this. Every time you hear
me say, we've got great joy, I want you to ask,
How great is it? Let's practice. You ready? We've
got great joy. Oh, the joy is coming. All right.
We've got good news. I didn't even have to tell
you. You've caught on already. Wait for it. Don't
say anything. All right. But there is a question
I want you to ask. What do we do while waiting?
Friends, we have. Great joy. No, no, no. Come
on. We're going to do this often. We've got great
joy. We can tell how great it is by the word
Luke gave us to describe the joy. The great in
Greek is the same name as a mall out in Bangna.
No, I'm not going to say that. Seven or eight
kilometers down the road from my school. There's
a mall with over 400 ,000 square meters of construction
space, over 12 ,000 parking spots, over 800 shops,
including Ikea, Central, Big C Extra, a cineplex
with 15 theaters, a bowling alley, and don't
forget the ice skating rink. And we call it...
That's the root of the word... that Luke used
to describe the joy. This is mega joy. Friends,
we've got great joy. It's mega joy. And that's
not all. When you read narratives, look for people
in a place with a problem. Let's look at the
narrative and identify the people in place in
the problem. In the same region, there were some
shepherds. staying out in the fields and keeping
watch over their flock by night. Now here's the
people, shepherds. Now I don't think shepherds
scare easily, right? Shepherds take care of naughty,
tame beasts that can be kind of stubborn and
they can bite and kick. Shepherds also guard
against nasty wild beasts. At that time, the
lions and bears and hyenas and wolves were still
there, and they like eating sheep. And wild boars
and venomous snakes, they don't like eating sheep,
but they're still dangerous if you step on one
or surprise one. The shepherd's job was to guard
against all of these. Those are the characters.
Shepherds were not known for being scared. They
were probably more known for being scarred. So
when a shepherd comes and tells you they were
scared witless by something that happened, I
think they have our attention. And the setting,
they were out in the fields. Pastor Nelson last
week reminded us that the setting in ancient
stories is as much a part of the story that gives
us a way to understand it. So when we see that
they're in the field, and the field is the border
between the wild Empty darkness and the safe
home life supporting place. And the field is
right on the border. So imagine the shepherds,
safe, walled city of Bethlehem behind them. Danger
and who knows what predator out there in the
dark in front of them and the sheep with them.
So what we have are tough guys. doing night shift
guard duty on the edge of disaster. Right? And
that's just the people in the place. How about
the problem? And an angel of the Lord suddenly
stood before them, and the glory of the Lord
shone around them, and they were terribly frightened.
Now notice the parallelism here. You've got the
angel of the Lord parallel to the glory of the
Lord. You have the verbs stood and shown parallel
to each other and then prepositional phrases
about the shepherds. The angel was before them.
The glory was around them. So we have people
in a place with a problem. Tough guys working
night shift guard duty on the edge of danger
and disorder. And suddenly, have you had this
situation where you think you're alone and you
turn around and someone's there? My wife and
I do this to each other too often, especially
for this 55 -year -old heart. When we're down
in the kitchen and our stairs are so solid, you
usually cannot hear someone coming down the stairs.
So I'll be doing something in the kitchen, I'll
turn around and she's there, right? Well, it's
worse for the shepherds because the angel that
was suddenly there wasn't even human. Right?
So we've got tough guys doing night shift guard
duty on the edge of disaster and there's an alien
in front of them. What have we got going on?
We have multiple causes for one mega effect.
See, there's a contrast here. This mega is also
right there in the word terribly. They were not
just... mega joy that we'll get to later they
were mega scared so if luke used the same word
then the fear was equal to the joy right that's
a suggestive interpretation but let's check the
text see if our interpretation fits the story
if we continue to read we see the angel said
to them read it with me You almost get bored
with that line, right? Because angels are always
saying that, so we overlook it. Do not be afraid.
But that tells us the fear, though natural and
appropriate, was temporary and not God's intention.
And though this appearance and news came to a
few shepherds, the news was for all people. So
checking our suggested interpretation of... The
fear equal to the joy? Putting it back in the
text? No, we've got to modify. This is a joy
much bigger than the fear. We have great joy.
There we go. It is bigger than fear, mega joy.
And that's not all. We can also tell how... Great
the joy is by looking at whom the joy is for.
The angel said to them, do not be afraid. For
behold, that means pay attention, people. Sorry,
that's my teacher voice. I bring you good news
of great joy, which will be for all people. You
got it. Show me the all. The all. Now, Pastor
Nelson reminded us last week that peace on earth,
it's big enough for all, and they're all invited,
but we have to respond if we're going to experience
it. And the same is true of the joy. There's
enough joy for everybody, and everybody is invited,
but we have to respond to the good news. Certainly,
we have to respond. talks about this in hints
throughout his book. Mary sang a song earlier
in Luke chapter 1 when she said, all generations
will call me blessed. There's a hint that this
is a big awe. In Simeon, about 40 days after
Jesus' birth, Simeon gave a prophecy and said,
this child will be a light of revelation for
the Gentiles. That's more than a few Jewish shepherds.
That's more than just the Jewish nation. In fact,
Luke's version of the Great Commission, at the
end of the book, he says, Repentance and forgiveness
will be proclaimed to all the nations. Friends,
we've got great joy. Not acceptable. We've got
great joy. Amazing. Thank you. Give me some energy.
We've got in all nations, bigger than fear, mega
joy. And that's not all. We can also tell how
great the joy is by the wordplay. See, ancient
readers didn't doom scroll on their glowing rectangles
to pass the time. They played with words. They
sang songs. They told riddles. They told stories.
And in the songs and the riddles and the stories,
they were listening for words that might be used
two different ways. Or they were listening for
words that might skip from story to story to
story on purpose, and they would look for connections.
So the Hebrew original, most of the Christians
at the early part of the first century were Hebrew
and Jewish, listening perhaps to Luke's Greek
gospel would put this together because this is
how they thought and this is how they played.
Ancient readers would hear that Greek word joy,
kara, and realize the story is happening to shepherds
who had lambs, Hebrew kar. And they would put
it together. And they would say, oh, lambs. Yeah,
joy. There's a connection. Have you ever seen
lambs? Have you ever? Do the YouTube search,
skipping goats or happy lambs, and it's so much
better than this. But they would put it together.
And is that just circumstance? Or was Luke connecting
something? Because the last writing prophet,
400 years before Jesus, in his last chapter,
also seemed to be hitting this theme. Malachi.
Last writing prophet. Chapter 4, his last chapter.
He writes, Behold... Yes, thank you. Thank you.
I was about to say, pay attention, but you're
ahead of me. Good job. Behold, the day is coming.
Go ahead, read it with me. The day is coming,
burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant
and every evil doer will be chaff. And the day
that is coming will set them ablaze. This is
not joyful so far. Chaff is after you clean the
grain and you got the stuff you can't eat left
over. You just burn it. It's not useful, right?
Malachi goes on after talking about judgment
on the evildoers. By contrast, I'll read for
you. But for you who fear my name, the sun of
righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.
And you will go forth, here it is, and skip about
like calves from the stall. Friends, this joy
is a dance party. Okay? It's a dance party on
the ashes of all the bullies who tried to make
the world after their own image and took advantage
of everybody else to fill their own pockets.
It's a dance party because the end of the world
when Jesus says, that's enough. There's only
two ends for the bullies. Either they repent
and join the party. Or their ashes are the confetti
at the dance. Friends, we've got great joy. Dance
party, all nations, bigger than fear, mega joy.
Do you want it? Then you need to know the source.
Because we have... That is... Yeah, we've got
good news. How good is it? Try it again. We've
got good news. Thank you for asking. You can
tell how good it is by the word itself. Now,
not many of us can read Greek, and I use Greek
tools to find out these things. But there's the
word in Greek, euangelizomai. But let me change
each Greek letter to the English equivalent.
Does it look familiar yet? Let me modernize it
a little bit according to our pronunciation.
This is the E in ECB. We are a good news people.
Let's break it down. So it's two roots put together.
You means good. The angelizomai is news. And
I love this about the gospel because the good
news communicates both God's intention and information.
And as human beings, we need both. God's intention
toward us is to benefit us. It's good for us.
But there's information we need to know. And
this strikes against our human tendency to divide
things and then take sides. Some of us in the
Christian world, we really like the good part.
We love the warm fuzzies. We love inclusiveness.
We love great worship services. We love the worship
services that have us moving and jiving. The
news, yeah, it's okay. And some of us go so far
as we embrace the good and we question the news.
I grew up in a denomination, a group of churches
that was born out of a larger group that was
really running for the good side. and shoving
the news part away. And my group of churches
said, no, we can't do that. This was way before
I was born. I wasn't part of it as old as I am.
They said, we can't do that. So they separated
out and formed their new group. The problem with
the new group was, for some churches, is now
that the fight was over, we couldn't stop fighting.
We love the news so much, we weaponize it and
forget that it's for good. And we cling so strongly
to every little detail of theology that is no
longer good. But the good news doesn't allow
either extreme. And it never says drop one. It
says get them both up there. We need the good
and we need good theology. We need God's intentions
and we need to understand him. So God's announcement
of victory, that's what this word is. Challenges
both the feel -gooders and the do -gooders. It
challenges those that take the fun out of fundamentalism.
It challenges the I -just -love -a -good -time
people. And it reaches for the feelings and the
thoughts. The evangel appeals to heart and head.
Jesus said, love the Lord your God with all your
mind, all your soul, all your strength, because
he was intent on redeeming all your mind, all
your soul. All your strength. We've got good
news. It's holistic. It reaches for the whole
person. And whichever part appeals to you, run
with it, but know you're going to have to grow
on the other side too. That's not all. We can
also tell how good the news is by contrasting
the setting of the story. Pastor Nelson told
us last week about part of the setting. I'm going
to take us into another part. I talked again
already about the fields, the border of danger
and disorder. And it was nighttime darkness.
The angel announced the good news to tough men
working night shift guard duty on the border
of disorder and danger. And that good news arrives
during hardship. And danger. And Luke acknowledges
the hardship. And here's the point I want to
make. If you didn't hear last week's sermon,
go back and listen to it. It's brilliant. Good
news brings joy, not escapism. Hardship is real.
Good news does not pretend everything is okay.
There are some Sundays I come in. And I cannot
rouse myself to raise my voice with the worship
team. And I don't even want to look up. Good
news acknowledges suffering but insists it's
temporary. So God's good news empowers us to
endure hardship. And God accepts worship with
tears just as much as he accepts the happy clapping.
Worship with tears is called lament. And there's
a lot more lament psalms in the Bible than there
are tearful songs in our songbooks. We could
learn from that. We can endure just like Jesus.
Hebrews says Jesus, for the joy before him, this
is actually part of one of the songs we just
sang, for the joy before him endured the cross.
You know what that means? The cross did not feel
good. The Father did not ask Jesus to enjoy the
cross, and Jesus did not enjoy the cross. But
he saw the joy on the other side, and that got
him through. That's our model. Good news, people.
Oh, thank you. We are good news people when God
heals, and we are good news people when he lets
disease take a life. We are good news people
when God lifts someone out of poverty, and we
are good news people when God lets us lose. The
good news is also honest, not just about outside
circumstances, but our internal darkness, that
we need a Savior. Friends, we've got good news.
It's holistic, honest, and hopeful. Good news.
And that's not all. We can also tell how good
it is by analyzing the news. I took like a middle
school elective in journalism. And we were taught,
if you're going to report the news, you ask the
question words. Who, what, when, where, why,
how. So let's go back to the angel's summary
of the news and look for those questions. Let's
mark it. Let's see. Wavy line for when. Any words
about when? For today. All right. I don't see
any more when. Any where. Let's do a jagged line
for where. Okay, we got the where. Any what.
That includes action. Born is the action. There's
our what. Who. Don't skip the obvious. What's
the emphasis of the news here? Which question
word gets the most text? Who? And this is good
news that the good news is who before it's a
what. There are events we need to know. There's
information, but it starts with the person, and
this person needs to come front and center because
the good news is not first. Not first and foremost
an outline to memorize. It's not first and foremost
a quest to fulfill. And it's not first and foremost
a checklist to achieve. The good news is first
and foremost about a Savior to rescue, a Christ
to fulfill promises, and a Lord to command. Let's
rewind a little bit. The good news is not an
outline to memorize. And that disappoints us
smart people. Because we get our joy by comparing
ourselves to others that we think are not so
smart. But that's not good news. The good news
is not a quest to fulfill. And that disappoints
the brave people. Because they like to get their
joy from comparing themselves to people who are
less brave or less strong. But that's not good
news. The good news is not a checklist to achieve.
And that disappoints us administrative, orderly,
self -disciplined people who look down on the
rest of you that are not as orderly. What's the
matter with you? That's not good news. Because
the good news is not about what you do. It's
what about God has done for us and about who
he sent to do it. Can I hear an amen? All right.
It's about who he sent to act on our behalf.
That is the good news. So we can stop running
mental Olympic words in our heads and giving
ourselves medals for being smarter or healthier
or richer or more influential. Those medals are
going to become chains and balls that drag us
towards hell. It's time we turn to the good news
of what he has done, and that's Jesus. We got
good news. Thanks for asking. It's holistic,
honest and hopeful. Who before what? News. And
that's not all. We can tell how good news, how
good the good news is by how the ancient Romans
and Greeks used the word. Maybe this is Caesar
Augustus in marble. Euangelizomai, good news.
They used this word before Christians showed
up. Good news is what faithful Romans called
the emperor's birthday. Looking back, this man
is so great. Look what he's done. His birthday
must be euangelizomai, good news. Good news is
what the Romans called the emperor's victories.
So when he won a battle, euangelizomai, good
news. The Roman government promoted emperor worship.
Maybe it looks something like this. They had
choirs that sang the good news of the peace on
earth that the emperor brought. Is this sounding
familiar? By the way, I have not used this word
yet, but an older English word for good news
is gospel. which means gospel choirs were sung,
were done by the Roman Empire before Christians
came along and redeemed it and started seeing
the good news the way it should be sung. The
emperor was even greeted and referred to as Savior
and Lord. They would greet each other, Caesar
is Lord. So when suddenly there appeared with
the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising
God and saying, Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among men with whom he is
pleased. With these words the angel army mocked
and challenged the Roman Empire. Instead of glory
to Caesar, glory to God. Instead of on the earth,
in the highest. Caesar, you can't touch this.
And Luke was a bold man for putting this in writing.
Loyalists to the emperor would probably growl
like mad dogs reading this kind of thing and
perhaps respond in violence. But boldness is
what the good news does to us because Jesus said,
do not fear those who can kill the body. And
later Christians would have to paraphrase that
for the persecution right in front of them. They
may have to paraphrase Jesus' words and say,
do not fear those that can set your body on fire
and hang it on a pole in a garden for entertainment.
Because that's what Emperor Nero did. And Christians
would have to paraphrase it to themselves, do
not fear having your body fed to beasts to entertain
a mob in an arena. Because that's what emperors
did. There's one thing, though, that bullies,
like Caesar Augustus and the other Caesars, there's
one thing that bullies like that are afraid of,
and that's people that are not afraid of them.
And that's what the good news does. It fills
the heart so when God's enemy says, shut up,
we don't back down. Friends, we've got good news.
It is holistic, honest, and hopeful, who before
what, empire -shaking news. And that's why some
governments hate Christians because they perceive
the threat. Not that we're going to militarily
take over, but that our good news makes us not
afraid. With me, it's news that changes everything,
starting with your hearts. Say it. Yeah, wait
for it. What do we do while waiting? The full
joy is not here yet. We get an appetizer of the
mega joy to come in the birth story of Jesus.
We get instructions for mega joy in Jesus' teaching.
We get a path opened into mega joy by Jesus'
crucifixion. We get mega joy guaranteed by Jesus'
resurrection. And we get the experience of complete
joy when Jesus comes back. But what do we do
while waiting? Like the shepherds who lived in
darkness on the border of danger, guarding against
threats, I recommend following their example.
When the angels had gone away from them into
heaven, what did the shepherds do? They began
talking to each other. And it doesn't say here
because no Bible writer probably puts everything
that's said into the text. That would make the
book too big. But I'm guessing when the angel
choir faded away, And they stopped shaking enough.
They looked at each other and said, did you see
what I did? Okay, it's not just me. Did you hear?
What did they say to you? Say, it's the same
thing. Okay, I'm not crazy, right? We need to
talk about the good news with those who have
heard it so that we can learn from each other's
experiences. Rejoicing in the good news is my
recommendation. The word rejoice is not in the
text, but other places in the Bible were commanded
to rejoice. That used to always irritate me because
I thought the Bible was commanding me to be happy
and I cannot control my emotions that much to
be happy on command. But after looking it over
a bit, I realized that's not what the Bible is
commanding. It's commanding you to rehearse.
Your joy. Rejoice is rehearsing your joy. What
are the reasons we have to be joyful? That may
influence your emotions. You may get a taste
of it. The toe may start tapping. But even if
it doesn't, you're obeying command to rejoice.
So we can rejoice in the good news simply when
we talk about it. And that's not all the shepherds
modeled for us. So they came in a hurry and found
their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as
he lay in the manger. Friends, fact check it.
Don't believe it just because I said it. Don't
believe it just because Pastor Pablo, Pastor
Phil, Nelson, or anybody else said it. Check
it out. The angel said, here's a sign. Signs
are announcers of this is it right here. Signs
are the verifiers that this is not fake news.
This is not a rumor. It really is true. It's
evidence. pointing to the trustworthiness of
the news. So, like the shepherds, let your feet
feed your faith and ask, is this really true?
Luke wrote his book for that very purpose. Read
the first four verses of Luke sometimes and see
that he says, I investigated and wrote it out
so you would know the certainty. He researched.
He interviewed. And he doesn't then expect us
just to say, oh, okay, you said so. No. If we're
going to rejoice in the good news, it is good
and appropriate to talk about it and to fact
check it. It's news. That's not all the shepherds
modeled for us. When they had seen it, they made
known the statement which had been told them
about this child. And all who heard it wondered.
At the things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary treasured all these things. Pondering
them in her heart. Tell others. Tell others who
have not heard the news. Your experience of it.
Don't try to memorize my sermon and regurgitate
it for somebody else. What's your experience
of the good news? Do you remember the moment?
You first understood it or who told you? Or maybe
even a moment after you understood it when it
got bigger in your heart? Share that with other
people. How other people respond is their responsibility.
Your responsibility is to share your experience
of the good news. How do we rejoice in the good
news? We talk about it. We fact check it. We
tell others about it. And that's not all. One
more. The shepherds went back, glorifying and
praising God for all that they had seen and heard,
just as had been told them. Glorify and praise
God that you heard the truth, that you got the
news, that what you heard passed the test of
investigation, that what you shared with others
might change them too. And just like the angel
army, Praise God by saying glory, the shepherds
return glorifying and praising God. Nice symmetry
bookends there on the story. So how do we, what
do we do while waiting? We rejoice in the good
news. We talk about it. We fact check it. We
tell others about it. We praise and glorify God
for it. One more time. Good news. To them, joy.
For all, wait for it. And that's what we're doing
in this season of Advent. Reflecting on Jesus'
first coming to build up our hearts and wait
well for his second coming. I'm going to pray
and then we will light our third candle for the
Advent season. Father, thank you. We're waiting
for a Savior from heaven to bring us all the
benefits of our heavenly citizenship. Oh, give
us the strength to endure and enough joy now
to get us through to the dance party to come.
In Jesus' name, amen. If God is calling you to
support our ministries, you will find giving
options on our website. And remember to join
us next week. God bless you.