|
|
|
With Angelic Host Proclaim Let's turn to Luke chapter 2. Yes, even though it's past Christmas. I know everyone here is expecting Romans. We will go back there next week, and I promise that for at least the next 8-10 Sundays, and almost every Sunday this year until summer, will be all Romans, all the time. But today's message was picked a week ago, and was picked very purposefully. Look at the title that appears in the bulletin: With Angelic Host Proclaim. "Angelic" - of, or pertaining to angels "host" - that's a word you need to get used to if you're going to read the Bible, and you've got to be reading the Bible! "Host" - you will come across "the Lord of hosts" often in the Bible - which means, "the Lord, who's in charge of multitudes" - "hosts", are a bunch of living beings. So, to say "with angelic hosts proclaim" means we proclaim something with a multitude of angels; we tell it. We announce it. You and I get to do something no other creatures in the world ever got to do: we get to tell what God has done. I don't think most of us realize how rare that is. Who gets to speak for God? This is the theme on which I chose to start 2007. Tomorrow begins a new year. But there's always a danger of imbalance when a message opens the year on a theme: because it's not as if what we cover today encompasses all we need to be and do in 07. But it's one important theme among many; and so it's one I want to stress. Something the Lord saw to it that I am learning more about, and due to my God-appointed position here, when He teaches me something, I feel sure it's meant for me to pass it on to you. The message title is not original to me. It comes from the hymn, "Hark, the
Herald Angels Sing" - this stanza: Has an angel ever spoken to you? Raise your hand if an angel has spoken out loud to you. (I didn't think so.) On the other hand, I'm not sure you would raise your hand and admit it, if
you thought it happened. But angels have communicated, on occasion, to men in
the past. We read such events. Here is an occasion on which angels spoke to men
- Luke 2: and what they said, as put in the well-known hymn: Angels are messengers. By definition, that's what their name means: messenger. That's why, in the book of Revelation, when Jesus is sending messages to the 7 churches of Asia Minor, it says 7 times that He does so through "his angels" or "his messengers" - and different translations pick one of those two words, because we don't know which it's saying - is He delivering a message through an angel appointed to speak to that church, or to a messenger appointed to speak to that church? In any case, that's how much their name is wrapped up in being "messengers". That said, now let's read some well-known verses on the birth of Jesus. But I'm not going to expound it all, but only bring a single truth to propel us into 2007 with a single thought in this passage. That said, let's read Luke 2:8-15. Of the many messages angels got to proclaim in the history of mankind, I am sure that these angels felt that they had the most glorious task ever assigned to an angel: to proclaim the birth of Christ. On an otherwise ordinary night of work, watching sheep - a job esteemed about as much as we esteem a uniformed security guard today (someone who we feel has an inflated sense of importance due to the uniform but we know he's not making anything much/hour) - on a very ordinary night for such men, they suddenly found themselves seeing quite a display of Christmas lights. They didn't go out driving to look for lights; the lights came to them. For they experienced two "sudden" events this night, both of which involved a lot of light.
We are told of two sudden appearances: 1st, of one angel (and as we know from other appearances of angels, that's impressive and awe-inspiring enough) but besides his presence "the glory of the Lord shone around them" - around the men who saw the angel. On this point, some who depict this incident make a mistake about the source of the glorious shining: it was not some innate glory in the angel that shined, but as soon as the angel of the Lord appeared, some sort of manifestation of the glory of God came in a form of brilliant light too. So the shepherds knew that they were dealing with Got both parts of that? The angel was visible, as a creature. God was not visible as a person, but something resplendent was being done to show that God is here; and to impress upon the men that, this angel who's here is delivering a message from God: vv 10-12. I am sure that none of us can imagine how impressive this demonstration of glory was! Remember, in the NT we often read of people being totally blown away and intimidated by the glorious presence of an angel! So, how impressive then was an angel who was merely the actor in the foreground of a stage which had something going on described as "the glory of the Lord" as the backdrop behind him?! And so it is no surprise to read, v 9c, that "they were terribly frightened" - yeah, I'm sure they were! The 2nd appearance was not far behind and included many angels, v 13 - a multitude of them! And again, they are delivering a grand and earth-shaking message: v 14 - this time, taking the just-made announcement about the birth of Christ to its best conclusion: Praise God! Glory to God! Nothing has ever occurred which will bring so much glory to God as this! And the God Who deserves and receives all the glory, of all His works, none have ever been such a great blessing to the peace of men than this. The point I wish to stress and which I wish to remain with us today is this:
(the message theme) They get to proclaim the birth of Christ. And think about what you get to proclaim! The question is not whether it is our duty or privilege: it is. The only question is whether we will enjoy and embrace this duty and privilege. I never bear up for a moment the aggressive question that some will ask Christians, that "Well, if we believe God is sovereign over all things and His will shall be done, then why bother with evangelism?" The answer you can always provide to that is this: there is no higher calling than getting to speak for God! A president does not need an ambassador to speak for him and his country to another nation; he could always go speak himself. But every ambassador who ever loved his nation considered it a great privilege to be the one chosen to deliver the messages of his nation; and every angel, living in the presence of God, knows it is a calling of the most magnificent grandeur, to be appointed to speak for God. How much more should a sinner feel deeply favored, honored, given entitlement to a role that he has no right to the title of, to be called upon to be a messenger for God?! Angels are creatures greater than us in might and power, 2 Pet 2:11, but they
are called to the work of proclaiming truths which benefit and bless us, and
they do it. Angels are creatures greater than us in glory, as indicated by how
deeply they impress us by their power of presence when they appear, but their
role is to serve us, Heb 1:14. Angels are creatures greater than us in holiness,
which is why they are called often "the holy angels." Angels are creatures
greater than us in privilege, living out their existence in the very presence of
God, and as we read in Ps 8, when it tells us that man is made a little lower
than the angels, and that even Jesus for a time was placed in a position a
little lower than angels, by being made a man. Several prophets tell us clearly that the Word of the Lord came to them by mediation of angels. Remember Zechariah always telling us about his regular companion, "the angel who was speaking with me"? They got to proclaim Jesus' birth, we see not only in Luke 2 but another angel who is even named for us, Gabriel, in Luke 1:26ff, tells about both our Savior's birth and that of John the Baptist to precede it. They are the first to announce the resurrection, which perhaps men could have had the opportunity to announce first, had they been willing to believe it, what seemed impossible to men; not being able to believe that what Jesus had said (I will rise the 3rd day) was true, it came back to creatures who were quite able to comprehend such a thing to bring the news first - creatures who have dwelt with God and knew well that nothing is impossible with God, delivered the news: Luke 24:4-7, Matt 28:5-7 (also mentioned in Mark 16:6-7). They got to announce the ascension and the return of Jesus, Acts 1:10-12. This is all part of what Paul says is the gospel, 1 Cor 15:1-10. Angels proclaimed mysteries to John the Apostle in the Revelation, Rev 17:7, for instance: "And the angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I shall tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.'" (often in Revelation: 7:2, 16:5, 18:21, 19:17) They issue authoritative commands to men often: Matt 2:13, 19-20; Matt 1:24, Acts 12:8, 1 Chron 21:18. My favorite angel is the guy mentioned in Rev 14:6 when John says: "And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people." Why does he do that? Why does he need to? Who hears him do so? Angels proclaim stuff often enough that we are urged to be careful not to receive false doctrine from an angel: Gal 1:8, 2 Cor 11:14, 1 Kings 13:18, and it was actually a given, supposed by some, that angels would reveal things to people, Jn 12:29, Acts 23:9. So, they are proclaimers; instructors; teachers; authoritative messengers. But I come back to what has impacted me to bring this message today: that what is most amazing about all this is that, these who are most qualified to bring the message of salvation and of the grace of God to men in the gospel, are not the creatures who are called upon most frequently to do it. We are. Sinful creatures, who by design are the ones blessed and delivered by the message, are the ones who get to deliver the message. They (angels) get to announce portions of the gospel, on special occasions; we get to proclaim the gospel as a way of life! And in that, they (angels) are examples to us! Did you ever think about that when you read:
And so, as I said was the theme: We proclaim, too: That's what I want to stick with us. Applications: Now, you might say: "I know what you're trying to do with this talk of 'privilege'. You think that will motivate us better than duty, to make us feel like, "Wow, we don't have to witness, we get to witness! Ain't that cool! Well, it's not working on me. I know it still comes down to, since it's a great privilege to witness, then shouldn't you be eager to do it?!" And there's that "should" again! So it's no different. It's just mind games and how you say it." Well, that could be the way talking of "privilege" is used - that is, a person trying to persuade you to do something could cloak duty in talk about privilege, like little Mikey ought to eat his food because he should consider himself blessed to even have any when there are starving children in China. But the fact that it can be used to manipulate people doesn't take away from the truth of this assertion, and so I want to explain it more: Herein is the privilege! - being a speaker with the glory of God behind you.
2 Cor 4:5-6: So that when Luke 2:9 tells us that an angel had the glory of the Lord shining around him as he delivers his message - well, in a less visible but just as genuine a way, that's a reality about us too! The glory of God is in the message we get to deliver. You might say, when you get to do this, you dazzle, too. You shine. It makes you look good to proclaim the gospel! It replaces the shallow stuff which might otherwise come out of your mouth and replaces it with a better matter. If we find "the angel who was speaking with me" (as Zechariah calls his heavenly companion) getting to interpret the words and work of God to this ignorant prophet, to help him understand God's messages, then how much more should we, as equals to our fellow-men, be glad and honored to be their interpreters of the work of God? Like Philip got to explain to that Ethiopian fellow on the desert road who said, "How can I understand (this book, the Word of God) unless a man explains it to me?", don't you relish the chance to be that man? And if you will deliver the message of God to men, then I would encourage you in 2007 to make yourself understand the message of God better! To learn it well. An angel could make a case that this is a task beneath his dignity and glory (not serving God, but serving men - taking God's message to these corrupt men!). I have known men and so have you who, no matter how highly they thought of their boss, if he asked them to do something for an underling, a person they did not respect, or a person they thought beneath them in position, they got resentful! Mark Webb makes a case that this had something to do with the rebellion of Satan and the fallen angels: taking offense at discovering that part of their role would be to be servants of those who inherit salvation. You can hear the objection, can't you? "What?! Me, serve them? You can't be serious! Us, serve them? Look at us; and look at them! They should be serving us! Here we have served You, Oh God of heaven, in holiness (who knows for how long), and you want to send us to serve those who have sinned against you?!" But yep, that's what the assignment was to be. Perhaps it provoked Satan (known as Lucifer then) enough to say "I won't do it! I'd rather revolt! Come on, guys, let's get out of here!", and he took a multitude of the angels with him. They were angered at grace, and maybe even more, angered that they who had never wronged God in any way had to serve those who rebelled with the message of grace. And that became to them, grounds that we may as well just rebel ourselves. What a mistaken way to look at things. But back to how we should feel about it: 2 Cor 3:7, 12 - it's a message of glory that makes us bold to speak it! It's a message of glory which, when the Spirit of the Lord works, the men we speak to see its glory because He takes the veil away, v 16. That would be a good prayer for us to offer up to God: "Oh Lord, as we speak, take the veil away from their eyes!" Yes, angels marvel at this, 1 Pet 1:12. But do we? I'm afraid we don't witness much perhaps because we do not see the glory of being a messenger for God. We are pre-occupied with comparatively petty, little things to do. And we even have an ability to explain this that angels probably don't have: we can make the starting-point of our witness at the level of understanding your hearers have. We know what it is to start from total ignorance. You don't need me to tell you that our culture is a mess now. But I mean, the ignorance of basic gospel content has become staggering. And we sometimes witness like an engineer trying to build a skyscraper on a foundation meant for a tool shed. That is, we assume too much is already there; when it isn't. People don't know what sin is. They don't know that God created the world and that they are accountable to Him. They don't know that they have rebelled against Him, they think they're just resisting the edicts of organized religion. At least Peter & Paul and the first century church preached in what Ken Ham has called "a creation-based culture". They knew a lot of things ahead of time. Now, as soon as Paul went to the Greeks, he was among people with a diversity of beliefs, like ours. That is why, I believe, the book of Acts tells us that Peter and James "preached", while Paul is described as not only preaching, but with words like reasoning, disputing, persuading, proving, alleging, convincing. You have to be prepared for some arguments. Our America and the west were once more like a Jewish culture; creation-based. Knowing the Law of God. Knowing what sin is, Biblically. But we have shifted as a culture. Now, we are more like the Greeks. We cannot approach lost people in our world as though they had Jewish presuppositions. Evolution has done more damage than we think it has. It's a huge
stumbling-block, which has shifted all the foundations: So, do we need to know how to disprove evolution if we're going to reason with men and lead them to Christ? No. Though it certainly doesn't hurt. But what we do need to do is realize, we usually can't just start at "Jesus loved you and died for you." Died for what? Why? Why did I need anyone to die for me? To pay for sin? What kind of barbaric God wants payment for sin? Who gets to judge and tell us what deeds are sin anyway? So you need to proclaim to them God as Creator of heaven and earth and you; and God as maker of the Law to which we are accountable. We get to fill men in on all of this! We get to explain to men all the works of God. We don't have to disprove everything science asserts to have a chance to see a person repent and believe; but love people enough to not let them get away with assuming that science has answers. Sciences can explain some observed phenomena, and every few years they prove that a multitude of their previous conclusions were wrong. But you must tell the lost: don't ever let science get away with explaining origins to you, or the meaning of our lives. Angels sure know better about this, living in the presence of God! And if we lived in the presence of God, as we can by immersing our minds in the Scriptures and staying in prayer, we can know better than this too. But back to our "angels" point: they get to proclaim Him, as those who have lived for ages and ages right in the midst of the light - 1 Tim 3:16: "beheld by angels", around the throne, Rev 5:11, in the presence of the Lamb, 14:10. And we get to proclaim Him as those who have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light, 1 Pet 2:9. No wonder they are surprised and gaze down on this spectacle with amazement, 1 Pet 1:12. But are we amazed at our privilege? 2) To Mingle Praise With Your Witness Shows that you Really Understand the
Message you are Bringing Part of giving all praise to Him is, being humble ourselves. So that there is the extra benefit to us, as we commit ourselves to bringing a message which is the glory of God, ala Luke 2:14, that we can point out to each other when we blunder or err in doing so. We can help one another sharpen up our gospel presenting. As the Proverb says, righteous men communicating with one another operates like iron sharpening iron; and is there any work in which it's more important to be sharp, than this? Mingle worship; because, evangelism exists because worship doesn't. 3) Be Authoritative in Bringing the Message of God to the World Angels are said at times to announce matters with great authority: Rev 18:1. We have that, too. Jesus' message was with authority, Luke 4:32, and what has Jerry Bridges been emphasizing to us? That we have His life in us. That we have His Word in us! And to the extent that you cause the Word of Christ to richly dwell within you, then you have an increased authority to what you deliver, and that authority produces, as a result, what the NT calls "boldness": Acts 4:31, Eph 6:19, 1 Thes 2:2. 1 Cor 6: we will judge angels! Where does that come from? But I know this: our words will judge men, too; because of what Jn 12:47-48 says. That's why Paul says a day is coming, "on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.", Rom 2:16. The point being: to the extent that we bind men to keep Christ's words, then what we are saying to them is their condemnation if they do not keep it. Well, it's very clear that we need to pray, which is what we'll be doing and focusing on tonight. Nothing we can suggest about evangelism has any value without prayer. Last year, I started the year with an emphasis that suggested we all pick 2 people that we would "go after" with the gospel. I think very few of us did that, or sustained it if it came to mind to do. But this year: how about we pick 2 people to pray for daily, that they will come to Christ? Perhaps if we start there, God's work will precede our attempts at work, perhaps He will reach them with mercy before we even figure out how to, and perhaps our own frequent praying will stir us to remember those persons. And so we'll focus on that tonight. And next week, back to Rom 5. Let's respond like Isaiah when that apparent opportunity to speak for God comes our way. For, did you notice? - in that vision in Isa 6:1-3, with all those angels flying about His throne, yet when God called out about a message assignment, "Who will go speak for Us?", Isaiah leaps to it and apparently beats all the angels to the punch, saying "I'll do it! Me, over here - please send me." And even though it was an unpleasant, hard message of judgment, not a happy message, he considered himself honored to get to bring it. Dennis Gundersen 1 January 2007 |