Glory to God and peace among men! (Luke 2:1-20)

[Stephan Choe]

Dec 16, 2023

Key verse: 2:14: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

At the end of 2023, I thank God for a number of things:

First, I thank God for giving me life through my mother and helping me through her and my brother and 4 sisters.

I also thank God for Esther's parents and her siblings, because God raised Esther through their devotion and led her to me.

I also thank God for encouraging me through my teachers such as So-hee Yeon (6th grade of my elementary school), Seungtak Baek (high school principal), Bosung Rhee (my university professor) so that I could attend middle school, high school, university and Dortmund University.

I thank God for the help of Peter Suh and Soomin Lee for helping me to believe in Jesus Christ.

I thank God for my beloved wife Esther and my dear children Stephan & Marie Seungmi and Timothee (& Monica).

I thank God for the help of coworkers in Christ such as Namsik Woo, Abrahm Kim, Isaac Kim, In-Seop David Lim (my first Bible student), Joshua Lee, Ruth Ahn and Seog-Hee Choi.

I thank God for the dear coworkers in Germany such as Ludger Sickelmann, Sara Chang, Rebecca Han, Isaiah & Bekkie, Andreas & Renate, Paula & Joseph etc.

Above all, I thank God for giving me faith in Jesus Christ and accepting me as his child.

Today, we want to get to know the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus' birth is a great joy that is experienced by all people.

1 The Birth of Christ (1-7)

Around 2000 years ago, Augustus was the emperor of the Roman Empire and the most powerful man in the western world. His word was regarded as the absolute word of power from Spain to Babylon and Egypt. He once gave an order from his throne in Rome: All his subjects in Palestine were to go to their hometowns and register at the authorities. The emperor then wanted to collect taxes from them and conscript men as soldiers. His order was so strict that even a heavily pregnant woman like Mary had to undertake an arduous, long journey without delay.

Among the people who had to travel home to register was a young married couple: Joseph and Mary, who traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Then their birthplace was Bethlehem. The two had to walk about 150 km on foot or ride a donkey. If they had walked 10 hours a day, they would have had to travel for about 4 days. What an exhausting journey for the heavily pregnant Mary!

But something even worse happened. Mary went into labor when they got close to Bethlehem. Joseph hurriedly looked everywhere for a room for Mary, but to no avail. Finally, he found a place for Mary in a stable in an inn. There she gave birth to a boy and laid him in a manger. The couple gave him the name Jesus.

Jesus is actually the Creator God. He could, if he only wanted to, come into the world as a rich and powerful man and display his power. But he came into the world as a poor, helpless man and was born in a stable. He then worked as a poor carpenter until he was 30 years old. Finally, without sin, he had to die cruelly on the cross.

Because Jesus experienced poverty, helplessness, injustice, and death himself, he understands all sad and desperate people very well. He knows our grief, our sorrow, our helplessness, and our despair. And he can comfort us and stands by us. He is our best friend and our Savior.

2 Great joy (8-14)

When Jesus was born in the stable of an inn, there were some shepherds in the open field in the region of Bethlehem to watch over their flock. The shepherds were poor and illiterate. They were so despised in society that they were not even considered witnesses. But God held these shepherds in high esteem and sent his angel to them first with the good news.

"And the angel said to them: 'Do not be afraid! Behold, I proclaim to you great joy, which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (10-11).

God shared the good news with the shepherds: "For to you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ!"

The word "Savior" means "rescuer". So God's good news is, "The Savior is born to you!"

About 30 years ago, I once went to the indoor swimming pool in Bochum-Langendreer with missionary Paul Chang and some children. Hanpol couldn't swim then. When he fell off the slide into the water, he immediately shouted: "Save me!" I was just there and was able to get him out of the water immediately.

But what does Jesus save people from? - From sin and death!

Sin means what is wrong in the eyes of God. It is wrong not to believe in God and his love. That is why you do what is wrong in the eyes of God. Sin is very bad, but it behaves as if it were our best friend. Sin whispers in our ears: "God only wants to restrict your freedom. Why don't you do what you want?" But that is a lie.

Anyone who has a good relationship with God can always count on God's blessing. But sin destroys our relationship of trust with God. Those who have sinned become guilty and feel God's wrath, so that they lose their peace and suffer from bad feelings and thoughts.

Sin ultimately brings us to hell, as it says in Revelation 21:8: "But the cowardly and unbelieving and unjust and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

Who then can save us from sin?

The angel says in verse 11: "For unto you is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, in the city of David."

Jesus Christ saves us from sin. Actually, each of us should be condemned to hell as punishment for our own sins.

But God laid all our sins on Jesus and punished Jesus in our place. God then raised Jesus from the dead. Because Jesus received all divine punishment for our sins through his sacrificial death on the cross and defeated sin, death, and the devil through his resurrection, all those who confess their sins and believe that Jesus died for their sins and rose from the dead can now be freed from sin and will not go to hell, but to the kingdom of heaven. God warmly accepts them all as his children, indeed as heavenly princes and princesses. He gives all his children eternal life, the Holy Spirit and the kingdom of heaven. God also gives us peace, living hope, and his love. We will be resurrected on the day of our physical death and enter the kingdom of heaven. There will be no sickness, pain, or injustice. There we will see God face to face and live with him for eternity. Praise Jesus the Savior!

Let's look at verse 12. The angel gave the shepherds a sure sign that they would find the baby: "And this is a sign: You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."

It is actually unthinkable that the Savior was born in a stable and lay in a manger. This special circumstance helped the shepherds so that they could find the Christ in Bethlehem without difficulty.

"And immediately there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of his good pleasure. (13-14).

The birth of Jesus means "glory to God and peace among men".

In other words, Jesus' birth gives glory to God and peace to men.

Why does the birth of Christ bring glory to God? 

- Because his birth demonstrates in all clarity that God is worthy to take the glory. For example, the birth of Jesus shows us that God loves us very much. He loves us, who were actually sinners and enemies of God, so much that he came into the world as a human being to comfort us and save us.

That is why it says in John 3:16: "For God so loved us, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 

Jesus' birth further shows us that God is worthy to take the glory because God proved Himself faithful and good through the coming of Jesus. God had already promised to redeem people through a man shortly after Adam's fall into sin (Genesis 3:15). God fulfilled his promise and sent the Savior to save us. He saves us from sin, death, and the devil and accepts us as God's children. Because we recognize God's love and his faithfulness through the birth of Jesus, we can thank God out of our hearts and give him the glory.

Honor or recognition is an important concern for everyone. Nobody wants to be despised. On the contrary, everyone wants to be recognized and praised. But a serious problem arises when people seek human recognition or honor for themselves, but do not give God the honor. If someone does not give glory to God, his Creator, but mainly seeks vain honor and recognition from people for himself, he will inevitably become very dependent on vain honor or human recognition. He will not lead his life before God, but before men. He will easily fall into dishonor and shame.

But those who recognize God's love in Jesus and give him the glory will find the right meaning for their lives and receive great, everlasting glory and live in bliss.

So after our salvation, we should give God the glory and live for God's glory. We also pray that as many people as possible will experience salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and give glory to God. We therefore pray that as many students and people as possible will become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ and give God the glory.

The birth of Jesus also means peace among people.

Jesus came as Savior to save us from sin, the power of death and the devil through his death on the cross and his resurrection and to give us peace.

Because Jesus has defeated all the powers of darkness and given us victory, we have true peace in Jesus Christ. We have peace with God because we have received forgiveness through Jesus' death and have become God's children. God will take care of us and lead us on the right road until we enter the kingdom of heaven. That is why we can trust God and have peace despite the seemingly great difficulties. God also gives us peace with our fellow human beings through Jesus Christ. Through his sacrificial death, Jesus has removed the animosity between people so that we can forgive and love one another warmly.

May God save us through Jesus from all difficulties and from the power of sin and the devil. May he give us his peace so that we can live blessed lives as heavenly princes and princesses.  May he also give us peace with every person, so that we praise God with one heart and actively do God's work.

May God help us to give God the glory from our hearts and to work powerfully for his glory.

I wish us all a Merry Advent and a Merry Christmas!