Songs of the Angels Luke 2: 8-14 December 11, 2016 Pastor Mike Moreno Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text for our sermon this day is taken from the Holy Gospel acc to St. Luke: 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 great 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! Thus far the text we have a special speaker today. Instead of the pastor giving the sermon, an angel will give the sermon. He looks like me, but it s really an angel. So..here goes.. Hi! I m an angel. Some of us have wings, most don t. But I understand you are talking about our song today. So, I thought I would stop by. Now before we get to the song, you all know what angels are, right? We work for the Big Guy - and our main responsibility is, um, messenger. Pretty much all communication is based on our work. Telegraph, phone, smoke signal, email, 1
facetime that s all built on us. No really! It s true. Well think about it..angel literally means, Messenger. Our message comes from God God uses us, the prophets and the apostles to get His message to you. Oh, by the way, you realize you are pretty important to Him, right. I mean, angels live in heaven, work on earth, are supernatural but we aren t His best work. You are. Man was made in the image of God. Also, He didn t give us rule over all creation He gave it to you. Mostly, we are kind of anonymous. Well, except for Gabriel and what s His name. You remember Gabriel. He showed up in Daniel, but His big claim to fame was the annunciation. The other guy was Michael, the archangel. We notice that some of your folk named Michael think they re angels too, but they re not. So, when God wants to speak to you, He can use angels, prophets and apostles. But sometimes He speaks directly to you as well. More on that later. So, the song. Where does it come from? Well, Isaiah had some pretty good words to build on. But we chose to focus on peace. You always get excited when angels show up, and the first thing we usually say is Fear Not. Once we get you calmed down, then we give you the news. Just like the shepherds. I don t know if they knew the prophecy of Isaiah or not. But they took off. Glorifying and praising God. And then they saw Him. The Prince of Peace, the One of whom Isaiah said, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father Prince of Peace. That was the song the melody for the ages. I have seen what sin can do. You know that we were created the same week as you were, right? But in the short time, some of our number rebelled against God Satan, Lucifer he was the ringleader..were cast out of heaven. And then He crawled into the Garden of Eden and created a 2
world of sin. But - God chose to redeem you. There were angels lost, and they can never be redeemed. But you were lost and God chose to redeem you that s another reason to remember that you are the crown of His creation. He became man, took upon Himself flesh to redeem you, fleshly creatures. He died to bring you back to Himself. He made peace between Almighty God and very very weak mankind. He did what angels couldn t do. Only God could redeem you. Now I know that you are still confused from time to time. We announced peace, but there s not much peace on earth this days. Aleppo we have angels working overtime there to bring God s message to those under gunfire night and day. Chicago you ve heard that they keep shooting one another there, not peaceful. Goodness, even as you gather to celebrate the gift of the Prince of Peace, lo and behold black friday comes along and people punch each other over a flat screen tv. You know better, don t you? Maybe you forgot I mean sometimes you even lack peace in your own families. Husbands and wives get so busy in their work that they simply don t know their spouses anymore, and don t even talk, except to complain and fight. Parents and kids spend time arguing about school and grades, and oh goodness. That lack of peace in your own homes made you forget Jesus still stands ready to give you peace. It s there for the asking. He stands ready at every moment to bestow on you what angels don t receive He stands ready to forgive. No matter how many times you break the peace, He is ready to restore it in an instant. 3
And I know, sometimes it s not your fault. Other people break the peace. That means that they are human, just like you. That means that you need to pray for them. God hears your prayers, we know that!! Pray that those who shatter peace may kneel at the stable of the Babe of Bethlehem and find peace restored. But even if that doesn t happen, peace is still yours in Christ. By the way, this peace that rules over your hearts can be problematic. I mean, you are the children of God, made in His image, and redeemed by the blood of the lamb. And that makes you say and do things differently than other people. You may confess the faith to those who don t believe. You may take a stand in love and according to God s Word that will seem to break the peace with others. They might get uncomfortable. But remember, it is not you who is speaking, it is the Holy Spirit bringing life and light and truth to all people. For example, people say that there are lots of ways to get to heaven, and Jesus is one way, but not the only way. They are dead wrong. But - the peace given to you allows you to speak in truth and love that they may believe in Jesus Christ, and by believing have life in His name. You get to be messengers too, and you can even sing our song. The apostle Paul (actually, messenger) Paul shared with you this peace is under attack. Satan and his followers will attack you. Yet when they attack you, they make you stronger. Because when you are down, when you are beaten, when you have nothing left, that is when your eyes always always see the light of Christ. And it s at the moment when you despair of yourself that Jesus steps forth to give you all things. You and I are still in the fight. And guess what? We re on your side. The writer of Hebrews wrote: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 4
We watch over children in Matthew 18:10: See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. And when your course is run, we escort you to the gates of heaven: The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. We continue to do our job. We still end up on Christmas cards. But our most proud moments are not when you are looking at us. I ll give you a hint: Gabriel announced to Mary - the annunciation Band of Angels announced to the shepherds Two angels - He is not here, He is risen as He said Why do you look for Jesus -10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Francis Pieper points out that, [Angels] proclaim the conception, the birth, the resurrection, [and] the return of Christ (Luke 1:26; 2:11; 24:5ff; Acts 1:10ff) (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 1:507.) From the annunciation to the ascension, angels were present to explain to human beings exactly what was going on and why it was all so important. You see, Jesus is our Lord too. Remember what the messenger Paul said in Philippians 2? 5
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. But you, His beloved people have received a gift that goes beyond angels and apostles. You see, we bring the message. But as I said earlier, there are times He brings this peace directly to you, no middleman. His Word brings you peace Word written by men as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost. Messengers all. But - He has given you two events where He touches you directly. The first can be days after you first make your appearance on the earth. At the font, water is poured on you, but the Holy Spirit quickens faith at that moment, and takes up residence in your hearts. God directly touches you. The second is as you gather around His table. We know that table! Remember the words of the liturgy..with angels and archangels (Gabriel and Michael again) we laud and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and saying That table where Christ gives forth is very body and blood gives to you directly the riches of heaven. And the song that we started will continue with your voice. And it s gonna be beautiful. Well, it s time for me to go. There s this kid on Homewood I gotta watch, and he keeps me pretty busy. 6
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