Thursday Night Fellowship
December 7, 2005
Christmas Hymns
Order
Snack/Fellowship
Games
Singing
Lesson
Singing
Introductory Questions
What is your favorite Christmas song?
What is a Christmas tradition in your family?
Why or what do unbelievers celebrate at Christmas?
The message of Christmas is amazing both really clear and really skewed in our culture. We have Christmas parades, Christmas caroling, Christmas cookies, Christmas parties. Many secular artists sing the traditional Christmas hymns without even editing out some of the words that are politically incorrect and downright intolerant. How can our culture be so immersed in this most celebrated holidy and yet miss the Christ of Christmas? Busyness, shopping, focused on giving or receiving gifts. Who knows?
The point is that we don't want to miss Christmas. We want to celebrate the baby who was born, and celebrate the man that he became who died on the cross for us. This man was God in the flesh. What's the best way to remind us of the reason for the season? It's not family or snowmen or turkey dinners. I think one way is to sing Christmas songs and to understand what they mean.
Let's look at the two we sang tonight.
Turn back to hymn 214, Angels We Have Heard on High.
Let's look through the lyrics together to see what they mean and some of the scriptures they come from.
Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains.
Who heard the angels? The shepherds is the answer given to us in verse 2.
What were they singing? Gloria in excelsis deo. (Can angels speak Latin?) I wonder what that would sound like in Hebrew? Literally “glory to excellent God”
Were the mountains singing too? No, just echoing. Praise the Lord!
Shepherds why this jubilee? What's a jubilee? A celebration.
What are you shepherds talking about? Why are you so excited? Well that is verse 3, but it comes from Luke 2:8-15. Let's read that together.
Come to Bethlehem and see? Who's speaking now?
Whoever this is must be pretty important. I don't recall hearing any angels singing when Simon was born.
Why would shepherds bend their knee to a baby in a feeding trough?
What was harder to believe? The Messiah had finally come, or there's a baby wrapped in clothes lying in a manger?
Because the shepherds saw the one part they believed the other.
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Jesus means savior.
How long has he been expected? The plan was in place since the foundation of the world, but more specifically Genesis 3:15 at the fall. Let's read that together.
Here's some other scriptures on the coming of Jesus.
Isaiah 7:14 – promised a birth of a son named Emmanuel to a virgin. That doesn't happen too often, only once in fact.
Isaiah 9:6-7 – who would you be expecting?
Micah 5:2 – O little town of bethlehem
Luke 2:25-35 – Simeon announces Jesus as Israel's consolation and for the rest of us too
What was the purpose of Christ's coming? To set his people free.
Free from what? Fears and sins.
What fears, what sins? When we are free we get rest. Aaah.
Jesus is the answer for the world today: Dear Desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart. Jesus is the joy and desire of our hearts.
Born to deliver...we talked about that.
Born a child, yet a king? People aren't born kings. They inherit the kindom of their father when he dies or is killed. This was a unique situation. Jesus was already king of the world when he was born.
Where is Jesus kingdom? Well the whole world, but for now it's in us. He should be reigning in us.
His own sufficient merit...We are not worthy to be in God's presence. Jesus puts his merit on our account so that we can be raised to his glorious throne, both now in Christ (see Ephesians) and later in the body.
So let's sing these songs again now that we know more about them.
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