Sunday Morning Sermon Summary
Pastor Paul Lundberg
Note to the
visitor: These are Pastor Paul’s sermon notes from Sunday
Morning. They probably won’t make much sense if you
weren’t in the service. Feel free to contact Pastor Paul if you’d
like more detailed information. For past
sermons, please visit the Sermon
Archive
Good News – Bad
News: The Trouble With Christmas
(Luke 2:34-35)
Sunday,
December 3, 2006
(Based on
“The Jesus We Preach at Christmas” by T.M. Moore, December 2004)
Luke 2:34 - Then
Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother:
"This child is destined to cause the falling and
rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken
against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.
And a sword will pierce your own soul too." NIV
Black Friday – Cyber
Monday - “Let’s Keep Christ in Christmas”
“Remember the reason
for the season”
“The true meaning of
Christmas”
Sing carols, talk about
“peace-on-earth, good will toward men”;
Christmas is not the
end of the story, just it’s beginning;
Peace on earth, good will
toward men?
Luke
12:49 "I have come to bring fire on
the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a
baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!
51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell
you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in
one family divided against each other, three against two and two
against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son
against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against
mother-in-law.”
Luke 21:10
- "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11
There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various
places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. 12 "But
before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They
will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought
before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.
13 This will result in your being witnesses to them. 14 But make up
your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15
For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries
will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even
by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some
of you to death. 17 All menwill hate you because of me. 18 But not a
hair of your head will perish. 19 By standing firm you will gain
life.
John
3:16 - "For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned,
but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has
not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19 This is the
verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness
instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does
evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that
his deeds will be exposed.
The “good news” is bad news…
1. …for ____the
devil and his followers_________________
Col 2:13-15
- When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your
sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our
sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations,
that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away,
nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers
and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over
them by the cross.
The
coming of Christ in the manger foreshadowed the victory of Christ on
the cross, where the devil and his followers were disarmed, openly
shamed, and utterly destroyed:
“(The baby in the
manger is) the One who wrecks the plans of every deceiver,
oppressor, liar, and vengeful person. The One before whose coming
(sinners) should be called to repentance and faith.”
John 12:27-32 -
"Now my
heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this
hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour…31
Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this
world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men to myself."
2.
…for ____broken
relationships_____________________
Luke
12:49-53 - “I came to cast fire on the
earth, and would that it were already kindled! Do you think that I
have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather
division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided,
three against two and two against three. They will be divided,
father against son and son against father, mother against daughter
and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her
daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-law”
We look to Christmas to heal old
wounds in the family.
We try to set aside our differences
and cling to the ties of blood that we like to think make us one.
We don’t want to offend unsaved
family members.
Preachers don’t want to offend any
of those twice-a-year visitors who have come to hear the Good News
of peace on earth and good will toward men.
We don’t dare present the
Christ-Child as the one who came to divide humanity along the lines
of faith, those who are uncompromisingly committed to following the
Bethlehem Babe against those who are determined to be the masters of
their own fates. We want people to believe that, somehow, we can
all just learn to get along in this world. We can be tolerant of one
another, even if our toleration means confirming people in their
lostness.
Luke
14:26 -
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother
and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his
own life, he cannot be my disciple”
3.
…for _____those
whose hope is in wealth______________
Luke
18:23-25 - When he heard this, he became
very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. 24 Jesus looked at
him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of
God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Christmas
is bad news for all those who look to wealth for their greatest joy
and purpose in life. If we are determined to find our happiness,
satisfaction, and purpose in life in the accumulation of things,
then we must resolve to leave off following Christ, for we cannot
serve two masters. We may try to deceive ourselves into thinking we
can, into thinking that we can invest the greatest amount of our
time, energy, creativity, and interest in making a good living, with
just a pittance left over for the work of the Kingdom; but this is
the devil’s lie, and we are his followers, not Christ’s, if we cling
to it.
4. … for _____the
family of God (Jews and Christians)___
Isa
8:13-15 The LORD Almighty is the one you
are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are
to fear, he is the one you are to dread, 14 and he will be a
sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that
causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the
people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. 15 Many of them
will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and
captured."
1 Peter
2:7-8 Now to you who believe, this stone
is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the
builders rejected has become the capstone,” 8 and, "A stone that
causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall."
The Good News about the Bad News:
1 Peter 4:14
- If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are
blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you
suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of
criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a
Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear
that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with
the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome
be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And, "If it is
hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly
and the sinner?"
Rom 5:17
- For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that
one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant
provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life
through the one man, Jesus Christ.
2 Tim 2:11
- Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also
live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we
disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he will
remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
Rev 5:9
- And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its
seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men
for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You
have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and
they will reign on the earth."
The
Good News of Christmas is for those who trust in Christ and follow
Him as fishers of men. For all the rest – all the liars, deceivers,
oppressors, clingers, smoothers-over-of-differences, greedy,
covetous, and selfish – the message of
Christmas is one of shame, wrath, and judgment.
The whole truth about Jesus: the
announcement of hope for everlasting life will have no effect on
those who fail to acknowledge that Jesus came to destroy sin and
call Jew and Gentile to repentance – to changing our minds about
God.
Green: Mission and Vision
Blue: Illustrations and quotes
Red: Scripture
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