The Community of Christmas

Good morning, Cross Church Phoenix. How are you? >> Good morning. Good morning. I am Pastor DJ, the pastor here at Cross Church Phoenix. Welcome. If you would open your Bibles now to Luke chapter 1. Luke 1 in your Bibles. And if you don't have a Bible with you, we have some extras in the seat back in front of you. You can take it, you can highlight it, you can underline and make notes in it. Make it your Bible. That's our gift to you from us, and we will gladly replace it. Uh so if you need a Bible, take that one with you. As you're opening to the Gospel of Luke, the third Gospel there. Um didn't the kids do a great job? I thought that they did a wonderful job. Yeah. Amen. Amen. A lot of hard work was put into that and I am so grateful and thankful to those involved. Also on the um for the announcement of Cross Church Unplugged, you know, I get a lot of questions about that and so I like to try to address that publicly um as well from the pulpit and say like this is what it is and this is what it is not, right? Um but every year um and I came here last November, November 2024. So if you have questions about what unplugged is like I have qu I had questions about what unplugged was. Um it is the one time one Sunday a year where all of the churches get to gather together and worship and we encourage that to be done on a live stream online. We ha as cross church we have um other churches in different locations. So we are cross church Phoenix. We also have cross church Elm Mirage, we have cross church surprise, we have cross church cornville um up north. We're looking to expand too. God might be opening some doors for other um cross churches um to do uh revitalization efforts and stuff like that. Um but what happens is the the pastors kind of come together and do uh we we put it on Facebook as a live stream at 10:30 where we all have like a different part of this service and we all we encourage all the churches to come together worship online. Um uh so if if um and and uh like uh Brian said, if uh you need a place to go or you still want to come here, I will be here opening it up and we will live stream it from here. Um so that is Cross Church Unplugged. If you have questions about that, let me know. But we're still worshiping, exalting Christ and singing his praises uh and prayer and praying on Sunday. Well, this year for Christmas, we're looking at a passage from the first chapter of each gospel. So we started two weeks ago in Matthew chapter 1 look talking about the crisis of Christmas and then we are in Mark 1 last Sunday talking about the choice of Christmas and this morning we're in Luke chapter 1 on the community of Christmas. The fact that you and I were created for community reaches all the way back to the creation account in Genesis. God made everything and declared it was good. In fact, towards the end he says everything is is very this is very good. This is good. And then he said one thing was not good though. He said it is not good for man to be alone. Man is created. We have our our God right is triune God the father son and holy spirit perfect community pre-existent have existed in that way for uh god in three persons blessed trinity as the old hymn goes existing eternally in that way for um all time and then God says it's not good for man to be alone I will make a helper for him and he creates Eve also for that community it wasn't good for Adam to do life alone in the Garden of Eden. And it isn't good for Christians to do life alone either. In fact, it is good that we gather together. Hebrews 10:24 and 25 actually exhorts us to not neglect that, right? And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. And you can't you can't stir up other believers to love and good works if you're not in community with them. And that's the point. If you're not around other Christians, you can't stir each other, build each other up. God doesn't intend for any believer, any Christian to be a lonewolf Christian. Coming together encourages us and allows us to worship together, serve each other, and build each other up. And our text this morning in Luke 1, we'll begin at verse 39. Um, if you want to if you need to put your finger over there or something. But, uh, our text this morning provides us an example of how God brings his people together to not only bless them, but to also glorify himself. And we'll see that. Now, I do understand that we've had a little a lot of uh up and down, but uh I am going to invite you to stand together as we read God's word. If you are able and if you can, of course, if you can't or certain limitations like it's totally fine, right? We ultimately it's a it's a matter of the heart, right? The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart. Um so, exalt go and his word in your heart, but if you can, we're going to read and then you'll we'll be seated. So verse 39, Luke says this. In those days, Mary set out and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah, where she entered Zachariah's house and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby, which is John the Baptist, leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, then she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed. How could this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside of me. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her. And Mary said, "My soul praises the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant. Surely from now on all generations will call call me blessed because the mighty one has done great things for me and his name is holy." Verse 50, his mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him. He has done a mighty deed with his arm. He has scattered the proud because of of the thoughts of their hearts. He has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he spoke to our ancestors. And Mary stayed with her about 3 months. Then she returned to her home. You can be seated. Thank you. One of the words we see repeated four times in this passage is the word blessed. Verse 42, Elizabeth to Mary, blessed are you and your child will be blessed. verse 45. And I was talking to my wife this week, kind of like envisioning, you know, this isn't in the Bible, but sometimes you just imagine things in your mind's eye. If you remember, Elizabeth's husband is Zachariah. Zachariah and Elizabeth were unable to have children until God miraculously caused and allowed Elizabeth to get pregnant with John the Baptist. But if you remember when the angel Gabriel was talking to Zachchariah about the fact that you're going to have a son cuz they were unable to have children. You're going to have a son. You're going to call his name John the Baptist. He's going to pave the way, be the bulldozer for Jesus Christ, so to speak. And it says, the text says Zachariah didn't believe. He did not believe. He they him and Elizabeth were older in age and barren. She was unable to have kids. And so the angel says, "Because you didn't believe, here's what's going to happen. You will not be able to speak. You will be um mute. You will not be able to talk or say a word until John the Baptist is born." And so I imagine Mary's coming into Zachariah and Elizabeth's house and Mary's pregnant. And um I hear her saying, "Blessed is she who believed, Zachariah." You catch that. Blessed is she. She believed. Um but anyways, I I kind of thought, you know, I wonder if she said it in that tone. Maybe not. She's probably kinder than that than I would be. Um but that's verse 405, right? Blessed is she who believed. And then verse verse 48, Mary says, "All generations will call me blessed." So this scene of Mary and Elizabeth coming together is full of joy. They're ecstatic. Why? Not just because they get to see each other, but they are rejoicing and exploding with great joy because of what God is doing. That's why, right? They're rejoicing in what God has done, is doing, and will do. And what I want to do this morning is challenge us to have the same mindset as they did, as we gathered to in community this Christmas. And so that's our main heading this morning, the blessings of gathering together for Christmas. The first thing I want us to see is this. We get to joyfully celebrate God fulfilling his promises together. joyfully celebrate God fulfilling his promises together. In the section before verse 39, the angel Gabriel had just revealed to Mary that she will conceive and give birth to Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. And then it was also revealed to Mary, hey, check this out. Elizabeth, your relative, is also pregnant miraculously because she knew that Elizabeth was unable to have children also. And so it says then that Mary set out to see Elizabeth. Now if you if you look at it carefully where it says verse 39, in those days that's a Bible way of saying like not a lot of time has passed. Okay? Um it's not like 6 months later. No, in those days, like the days that it was revealed to Mary, she would have be pregnant with Jesus. In those days, so like a few days laterish, she sets out and notice it says, "Hurried quickly to a town, the hill country of Judah. She just found this out." And what is the first thing that Elizabeth says to Mary when she shows up? Blessed are you, and what your child will be blessed. Who told Elizabeth Mary's pregnant? Amen to that. The Holy Spirit did. Mary shows up and at the sound of Mary just saying hello, right? A greeting, probably shalom. Both John the Baptist and Elizabeth rejoice knowing that she's bringing the Messiah into the world. Not only who told Elizabeth, but you know who told John the Baptist who is a six-month old baby in the womb? Holy Spirit. If you look back at at Luke 1 at verse 15 describing John the Baptist, the angel Gabriel says this, "For he, John the Baptist will be great before the Lord." This is Luke 1:15. And he must not drink wine or strong drink. And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit when even from his mother's womb. And then only a few paragraphs later, fulfilled. Boom. Fulfilled, right? Prophecy. God keeping his word. We see it happening. Both John the Baptist and Elizabeth are filled with the Holy Spirit. And so John leaps for joy. Elizabeth exclaims with a loud voice. And and no, John leaping doesn't mean that he just kicked a little bit in Mary's womb. The word is much stronger than that. Too strong to just say it was a kick. The word literally means to jump or to skip. So it's a leaping for joy that's happening. And I believe that there's an important reason Luke includes this detail. Because in the Old Testament, leaping for joy is associated with God's coming salvation. Now, I could give you more verses than what I'm going to give you, but I'm going to give you two. For example, in Isaiah 35:4-6, we read this. Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong. Fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." The Then the eyes of the blind shall be open, and the ears of the deaf unstopped, the ministry of Christ. Then the lame men leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. It's a ton of parallels. For waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. God is going to come and save you and this is what's going to happen. And part of it is leaping like calves or leaping for joy like a deer. And in Malachi 4:2 even closer uh reference here we read this. But for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. Okay, that's Malachi 4:2. And Malachi is mostly a book about God's judgment on the wicked. And it's the last book of the Old Testament. There's some hope mixed in there, some positive things mixed in there, but it's mostly a book of judgment. So, but understand this, the last book, Malachi, in the last chapter, chapter 4, promises that those who fear God will go out leaping like calves from the stall. And if you if you know um a little bit of the time between Malachi and Matthew known as the 400 years of silence, right at as the last book of the Old Testament comes to a close, there's 400 years of silence. 400 years of waiting on God to do something and then at Christmas, God breaks into the story. Jesus is coming and what is one of the first things we read in the Gospels? John is leaping inside Elizabeth's womb. Those who fear him will leap. What's the first thing? One of the first things that happens at the beginning of the New Testament, leaping. John the Baptist leaping inside his mother's womb. The Old Testament closes. Those who fear the Lord will leap. New Testament opens. Luke 1, John is leaping. And if you know the Septuagent is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. I forgot to share this with 9:00 a.m. I'm so sorry. They can watch. The Septuagent uh takes the Hebrew scriptures, right, translates them into Greek. So if you were like a first century Greekeaking Jew, you could read the Old Testament like we do in English in Greek. The same word, I say all that to say this, the same word used to describe in the New Testament John's leaping is the exact same word in Greek used to translate the Hebrew in Isaiah in the Isaiah reference and in the Malachi reference. Leaping, leaping, leaping. And so there's this tie that Luke intends us to have. It gets stronger. So he's filled with the Holy Spirit, leaping for joy at the coming salvation of God. And these women come together and they get to celebrate God keeping his promises. But after in Malachi 4, after Malachi 4:2, after telling us what that those who fear God will leap like calves from the stall, a few verses later, Malachi 4:5 says what? Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, the great and awesome day of the uh before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And who did Jesus say is Elijah? if you will receive it. John the Baptist, right? He says Jesus taught that John the Baptist is Elijah to come. Uh John the Baptist comes in the spirit of Elijah. And so what I'm trying to say after all of that is that the scriptures come together perfectly. And as we come together in community to celebrate Christmas, we too get to joyfully celebrate that God not only has kept his promises as we look back, thousand years to the nativity story, but we also get to celebrate that he will continue to keep his promises to us. And I want to encourage you to take time this Christmas to sing for joy, jump for joy, do whatever you got to do, uh to rejoice in the fact that God keeps his promises. The second blessing of gathering together for Christmas is we get to reverently worship God for what he has done together. Reverently worship God for what he has done together. As we come to Mary's song now in verse 46, you might have a heading or a footnote in your Bible that says Mary's Magnificat. All that is is the Latin version of it. So Magnificat is the first word in the Latin translation. So it's called that. But regardless of that, this is Mary's song. Some have called it a psalm of Mary, but this is a song of praise. So like John and Elizabeth, now Mary has an outburst of joy and praise for what God has done. And if you look at verses 46 to 49, that is Mary praising God for what he's done personally for her. And if you look at 50 to 55, Mary switches from how God has blessed her personally to how God blesses all those who fear him. Paul. And what we see in Mary's song of praise are not just reasons she worshiped God, but reasons that we should and ought to as well. So, I got five of them and I need to work quickly. But number one, worship him for his saving grace. For his saving grace. The first thing, one of the first things Mary says is that her spirit what? Rejoices in God her savior. This is very important. Mary recognizes her need for salvation. Uh I took an excerpt from a local um Catholic diocese regarding what Roman Catholicism believes about Mary and it says this. I this is a direct quote. quote, "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most blessed virgin Mary in the first instance of her conception." So, what you need to know is that they're talking about what they believe about the conception of of Mary alongside what they believe about the conception of the Lord Jesus. And it says this, "By a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, Mary," talking about Mary, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful." End quote. So, Roman Catholicism teaches that Mary was not born in sin so that she could also give birth to Christ, who we know does have no sin. With all due respect, that is false teaching. That is wrong. Mary knew that she herself is not born sinless. She herself knew she needed a savior from her sin. We know if you look back at Matthew 1, what is the point of Jesus coming? He will come. You'll name him Jesus. Why would I name him Jesus? Cuz he will save his people from their sin. That's the point. The cross is salvation from sin. If Mary has no sin, he didn't come to save her. She's good to go on her own. Why would she need a savior if she has no sin? Because she has sin and needs a savior. And she recognizes this herself. She magnifies the Lord and rejoices in God her savior. After she shows up again after Christ's death and resurrection, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is in the upper room with the apostles. And it says that they are what? Devoting themselves and she is devoting herself to prayer. Acts 1:14. I bring that I say that to say this. No one's praying to Mary. Mary has joined the apostles in praying to the Lord, rejoicing in the salvation he has brought now that he's a risen savior and we're in the book of Acts. But she's praying to L to the Lord just like everyone else. Mary needed God's saving grace just as much as you and I. One of the blessings we get when we gather together is worshiping God for his saving grace. Number two, worship him for his holiness. Verse 49, she says, "Because the mighty one has done great things for me and his name is holy." So Mary not only knows she needs a savior, she knows God is holy. The God we serve is a holy God. There are many attributes of God revealed in scripture. God is love. God is righteous. God is just. God is light. He is life. But only one attribute of God in all of scripture is repeated three times in a row back to back to back and it is that God is holy, holy, holy. God's holiness what it does is that description of him that his character it further emphasizes his other attributes. So the reason that you don't read God is love love he is love nonetheless. Absolutely. God is just, just, just. Well, he is just, but you know, you read God is holy, holy, holy, because it emphasizes those. So, God's love is a holy love. God's just is a holy justice. God's justice is a holy justice. God's righteousness is holy righteousness. When Isaiah had a vision of the throne room of God, Isaiah 63, he describes the seraraphim, right? And Isaiah 6:3 says, "And one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory." And then John when he gets a revelation from God in Revelation 4, he's described the describing the scene that he's seeing and he is describing these four living creatures in heaven saying something. What are they saying? Revelation 4:8. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around and within. Day and day and night, they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come." What is happening throughout all eternity or as long as the seraraphim were created? What is happening day and night right now? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Two seconds later, holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is to come. Constantly God is holy. One of the greatest illustrations of that that I've ever read was from RC Sproul. Do you remember the story back in 2 Samuel? David is excited to bring the ark back to Jerusalem. Okay? and they're transporting the ark of the covenant of God on a wagon, like on a cart. Problem number one, they're already not transporting it correctly, but okay, God mercifully didn't just zap them then. But they're they're going along the trail and it's getting a little rocky and the ark is getting a little shaky. And so there's this guy, his name is Oza. He reaches out to steady the ark. Who remembers what happens? He's dead. He's DRT, right? He's dead right there. Right. He's DRT. Why? Because God is holy. That's why. And RC Sproul writes about that incident. He says, "You want to know why Uza died when he reached out and touched the ark? because he and his sin is dirtier than the ground the ark would have fallen on. That's why that's sobering. And so they obviously pick themselves back up and uh correct themselves and transport it correctly. And that's when David, that's actually that's the other this is not even in my notes. This is free. Um that's the other when they when they go when they continue on and David is dancing before the Lord and and they stop every six steps or whatever. Um this is all in 2 Samuel. But as they as they bring the ark back and um and David is dancing right and there's like and his um I forget her name but she's like embarrassed by it. That word dancing is the same word in the Septuagent as leaping. So David is dancing, leaping for joy as the ark is sent back, right? Why? Because we're doing this God's way and he's back. Um we are under his grace and and mercy again. Praise God. So there you go. That that was a freebie there. Dancing, leaping, all the same word. Number uh three, worship him for his mercy. God deserves to be worshiped for his holiness. Now we worship him for his mercy. But I want you to notice something very important. In verse 50, his mercy, God's is from generation to generation on who? On those who fear him. It's very important. God's mercy is reserved for those who fear him. Another link to Malachi. Malachi 3:16 through 4:1 says this. Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them. And a book of remembrance was written before him on those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. And then God speaks, verse 17 of Malachi 3, "They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you will see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. For behold, Malachi 4:1, for behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. What is Malachi saying? Mercy is reserved for those who fear God in his name. Judgment is reserved for those who do not. That's the reality that is being drawn here. There's heavy um links not just because of John the Baptist, but even in Mary's song between uh what's going on in this scene and Malachi. Okay. But if you've received mercy from God, we ought to worship him for it. And if you have not, you can today because it's only offered through the Lord Jesus Christ. And you too can rejoice in God your savior. Number four, worship him for his righteous judgment. If you look at from verse uh 51, we see the repeated words. He has, he has, he has, right? God, Mary's focus is all on God. God has done mighty deeds. God toppled the mighty from their thrones. God exalts the load lowly. God uh satisfies the hungry. God sends the rich away empty. It's all about what God does. And one of the overarching themes in scripture from from beginning to end, there are certain threads if you go through Genesis to Revelation, there are certain threads that you must know. One of them is that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. God will knock down the proud and lift up the humble. This is all over the Old Testament and we don't have time to go over it, but twice in the New Testament, James 4:6, God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. First Peter 5:5, God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. And that's a reference back to the Old Testament scriptures. And here we see God's righteous judgment on display. Mary says um that he knows like God knows the hearts of the proud and he'll scatter them. He'll topple the mighty from their throne. She doesn't have to worry about doing that herself. He'll God will take care of it. And what? Exalt the lowly, satisfy the hungry. She can restfully say boldly proclaim that God will take care of injustice in the world. And we look around, we see a lot of injustice. And again, don't have time to go over it all, right? But we get to rest in the fact that God will set everything right in his time. We don't have to do it on our own. We stand for righteousness, of course, yes, but God has to set everything right. And we get to worship and trust him for his righteous judgment. Number five, finally, worship him for his faithfulness. Mary concludes her song of praise saying that God helped his servant Israel remembering his mercy to Abraham and his descendants forever just as he spoke to our ancestors. What is she basically saying? God's faithful. That's what she's saying. God is faithful. He will not forget his promises to Abraham. He ain't going to forget his promises to you and I. 2 Timothy 2:13 says, "If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself." I love answering the question, "Is there anything God can't do?" Yes, deny himself. He can't go against his character. And his character is to be faithful. God can't help but be faithful to himself and to his word. You could take that to his other attributes, right? He can't help but be great. He is He's just He's just gracious. He's loving. He's merciful. He's patient. He's also just, right? All of these things come together. But he cannot deny himself. He can't suddenly become faithless. God can't suddenly become unfaithful. We get to worship him for his faithfulness. There's an old Christmas poem uh that I came across. It's written I think around 100 years agoish. But it goes like this and I'm quoting. Christmas is a bitter day for mothers who are poor. The wisful eyes of children are daggers to endure. Though shops are crammed with play things and not for everyone. If a mother's purse is empty, there might as well be none. My purse is full of money, but I cannot buy a toy, only a wreath of holly for the grave of my little boy." End quote. I'm not going to pretend to know everyone's situation here, whether or not Christmas is a joyful time for you or a difficult time for you. But I do know this. We are created to do life in community with each other to share. What does the scripture say? Bear one another's burdens. Can't bear someone's burdens if they're never here. We want you be here. Come share your burdens. What is going on? We are created for community. Don't go at it alone. Gather with others and joyfully celebrate God fulfilling his promises. As difficult as it might be for some people, man, it's the hardest thing to to to gather um and to be happy and joyful when everyone else is so happy, but you're going through trials and tribulations and heartache. It's hard. But it is also good to gather and rejoice in what God has done, is doing, and will do. We joyfully celebrate his his fulfillment of his promises. We reverently worship God together for what he's done and will continue to do. And not just on Christmas and not just on Sundays. Every day when you wake up on Monday, celebrate God's faithfulness in your life. Worship him for who he is. And may we help each other along the way. And um one of the ways that we get to do Christmas in community is actually happening today at noon. We are all invited um to come to our Christmas gathering. uh right after service down in the kids wing as we break bread and fellowship together. But don't go at it alone. We are designed and created for community and God blesses us when we get to when we come together. We get to bless each other and glorify God. It's what it's all about. I'm going to invite the worship team back up and close us in a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for this morning. Thank you for all that you're doing. Continue to do God. You are our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We like Mary and Elizabeth and Zachchariah and all the others. We were dead in our trespasses and sins against you. But God who is rich in mercy made us alive together with him. By grace we have been saved. We thank you God for your grace. We thank you for your mercy, your faithfulness, your justice, all that you are. God, we worship you. We praise your name. Help us, God, as we go our ways, Lord. Help us to reflect on how you've been faithful to us, how you've kept us, how you've loved us by sending the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins and rise again on the third day all according to the scriptures, fulfilling everything and ascending into heaven where you rule and reign forever. You are king and we come before you humbly, God. But I pray that if there's anyone listening to my voice who says, you know, I like Christmas, nice time of the year and I go to church at Christmas cuz hey, that's what you do. Um, but don't really know Jesus, do not know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. I pray that today would be the last day that that's true about them because they come to know you personally and come celebrate who you are week in and week out, not just at Christmas, but God, we pray your blessings upon each one here. I pray God that you would draw men, women, and children to yourself and that we would see many turn to you for salvation. We love you Lord and we need your help. Help us Lord in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Um let's stand as we uh sing our last song.