Hope City Carols

What is the good news of Christmas - good news that will bring great joy? A baby born in unusual circumstances? Doesn’t seem that earth-shattering really. A baby born to God’s people living under Roman oppression isn’t going to change much for them - or for anyone else.

So what’s the big deal with Christmas? Let me take just a few minutes to pull together some of the threads we’ve considered today to try and get a better handle on it.

The promise of peace is something we’ve run into repeatedly as we’ve explored the Christmas story. In my opening prayer, I asked God to “Give to the earth the peace that we long for" and isn’t it true that we long for peace? For an end to all this conflict and division - between nations, yes, but in our own nation too - and even between us as individuals.

The ancient prophecy we heard early in our gathering spoke to an oppressed people of a hope for light, a hope for peace. It claimed a “prince of peace” was coming; that through his kingdom, his government, there’d be an end to conflict - an irresistible outbreak of peace rather than war.

Isaiah 9:6–7 (NIV)

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.

But what sort of peace could really have come through that first Christmas - when the world we live in is a world at war? When most of our history, much of our experience, is battle after battle?

We have to dig a bit deeper, and pull on another thread from the Christmas story to begin to understand. Perhaps you’ll remember what the angel said to honourable Joseph as he planned to quietly divorce Mary on account of the child within her?

Matthew 1:23 NLT

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ”

This Child at the heart of Christmas isn’t just another baby; this child, the bible tells us directly, is God with us - God entering our world, our broken and hurting world, not just standing aloof, far off.

But why would God do that? Why not just leave us to it? Let us live in the mess we’ve made? Let the world burn? Or just squash us flat and enforce a peace - the peace of a crushed people?

The answer is that he loves us enough to pursue us - that’s what these terms saviour and messiah tell us - he loves us enough to pursue us even through the wrongs which break our world. This is how he plans to bring us peace.

Luke 2:11 NLT

The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!

But this peace isn’t just absence of hostility - a “humanitarian pause” which will always feel fragile, a demilitarised zone we watch across with fear and hatred. The peace God plans to bring us comes from a bigger idea of what peace itself is: everything put to rights. Everything as it should be. Everything as it was meant to be.

First this child came into an earthly family, God-with-us making his home among us:

John 1:14 (NLT)

So the Word became human and made his home among us.

.. but he doesn’t stop there: second, he invites us into his heavenly family. I know for many of us, family and peace aren’t words that go together easily - perhaps they are more like opposites for you - but God’s family is different.

John 1:12 NLT

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

This is the real heart of Christmas: an invitation into God’s own family - that’s where true peace is found. Jesus joins an earthly family in order to open the way for us to join him heavenly family. Because that’s the only way, the only place, things can ever be truly right; this is what should have been all along - what was always meant to be. We are designed to be children of God - that’s what we were made for.

The good news of Christmas is that God has opened the door to true peace through Jesus.

[pause]

If you’d like to think and talk some more about this good news, we’d love to help with that.

Maybe you came with a friend? Why not ask them to talk with you about what this all means to them. If not, whether this is your first time hearing and thinking about these things, or you’ve been around them your whole life but just never put it all together, can I invite you to dig in rather than back off: this is big stuff, life-changing stuff. This is good news for all people.

Decide to come back next Sunday and think some more with us as we approach Christmas. Decide to ask someone to help you explore - you can ask me. If you’re with us online, use the request prayer button to get connected with a real live human.