Good God It's Christmas 3 | Freed From Fear

We're celebrating Christmas here at Cross Connection, and we're going through the Scriptures to explore what Christmas means in the advent of Christ. Today, we're looking at the fact that Christmas signifies the removal of fear, particularly the fear of death.

So, open your Bibles with us to Luke chapter one and study with us through the Scriptures. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. Luke chapter one is where we're going to begin.

There are three passages that we'll read from, starting in Luke chapter 1, verse 11. There we read, "Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb.'"

Now, skip from verse 15 down to verse 30. In Luke chapter 1, verse 30, we read, "Then the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.'"

Now, skip over to chapter 2, verse 8. In Luke chapter 2, verse 8, we find, "Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: you will

We already know that Your Word is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. We ask God that You, by Your Holy Spirit, would direct us and guide us into all truth. May this Word become alive and transform us by the renewing of our minds. We pray that we would experience joy, a greater increase of joy, and that it would be evident. Your joy would be our strength, and that would be a witness to others we interact with this holiday season.

Lord, we as Christians should display joy at all times, but especially during this time of year. I pray, God, that amidst all the other things that can be distractions, amidst all the influences that can lead us to not have joy and make us grumpy with a humbug sort of attitude, You would change us. Our sinful nature tends to lean that way, but we have a new nature because You have given it to us. Make us a people that shine with the glory of Your joy, and help us not to experience the kind of fear we see here. As You said through this angel, "Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid."

So, God, speak to us, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all who agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

We all know very well that fear can be an incredibly gripping thing. It can take hold of us in an awesome way. We all recognize this, and we have all personally experienced the response to fear. A lot of times, the response to fear is described with three different f-words: flight, fight, or freeze. We have all experienced that in some way. When something scary comes upon us, we may feel the desire to run away—flight—or we may freeze up and not be able to move at all. Then there is the other side of fighting in the face of fear.

I learned very early on in my marriage that my wife's response to fear is not flight or freeze, and that it wasn't a good thing for me to scare her. We experience fear in one way, shape, or form. There are all kinds of fears and all kinds of phobias. I did a search this week on...

Phobias are a fascinating topic, and I found a compilation listing 538 different diagnosable phobias. Some of them are well-known, while others might be surprising. For instance, arachnophobia is the fear of spiders. Does anyone want to confess they might have that fear?

Not just arachnophobia, but there is also acrophobia, the fear of heights. Many people experience this; it’s one of the top ten fears. Aerophobia, the fear of flying, is another common fear that people often think of. However, there are many other fears that you may not know about.

For example, geneaphobia is the fear of chins. Who knew, right? I had no idea there was such a thing, and now I’m a little concerned. Then there’s consecotaleophobia, the fear of chopsticks. Of course, Deody and Linda do not have that fear.

Another interesting one is Dutchphobia, the fear of Dutch people. It’s literally on the list! Marsha even says she has that one. Then there’s pantheraphobia, the fear of a mother-in-law. Some people might not confess to that, but they could very well have it.

Hopefully, you don’t have homilophobia, the fear of sermons. Apparently, you don’t, since you’re here this morning. But that is actually a classifiable fear. There are individuals who live their entire lives in bondage to fear, and for them, these phobias are not a laughing matter. In fact, they may even have gelotophobia, which is the fear of laughter. This is something that truly grips their lives.

One of the most common fears, which is very widespread, is necrophobia, the fear of death. Many, if not most, people have this fear. I would suggest that all people have it unless two things are evident in their lives, which we will get to in a moment.

We know one who removes the fear of death, and that is who we're going to talk about today. Some people are ignorant of what lies beyond death, and therefore, in their ignorance, they are not necessarily afraid of it. However, death can be a fearful thing. Job, in the Old Testament, writes about the terrors of the shadow of death in Job chapter 24. At that point in time, when he is facing what he thinks is his ultimate end, he speaks of the fears associated with the shadow of death. King David also speaks about this in Psalm 55, verse 4, where he discusses the terrors of the shadow of death.

For some, death is a very fearful thing due to its certainty; ten out of ten people die. The certainty of death can cause people to be afraid, not just because of its certainty but also because of its finality. This finality can lead to fear, as some people are afraid of the possible pain that will come as they approach death. As a result, they are gripped by the fear of death. For others, this fear is connected to the unknown nature of what lies beyond death. Most people in the world, over 90 percent of the 7 billion people who live today, believe in something that exists after this life. The unknown nature of that reality causes many to be afraid.

In fact, Hezekiah, the king of Israel during the time of Isaiah, writes in his prayer of rejoicing after God gives him extended life, as described in Isaiah chapter 38. After God grants him this extension, while he was facing death, he expresses his fear regarding the unknown nature of what comes beyond death. Death is a certainty; it is not something that is avoidable.

There are many other things that people can be afraid of and avoid. If you're afraid of flying, then you don't fly. If you're afraid of heights, you make sure you don't go to places where that might occur. If you're afraid of spiders, you might avoid certain areas, like my garage. There are things we can do to avoid these fears, but not death. Although many scientists are committed to trying to deal with it, to avoid it, or to take it away, there is no way to avoid death.

The Bible reveals to us a further certainty beyond death, which is found in the book of Hebrews, specifically in Hebrews chapter 9, verse 27. You can note it down in your notes.

The author of the Book of Hebrews says, "As it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment." It is certain not only that human beings and all living matter here on this earth will experience death, but also that human beings will experience something beyond that called the judgment, as the Scriptures reveal. People are fearful of this, but this is actually a good thing.

Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew, specifically in Matthew chapter 10, while teaching His disciples, said in verse 28, "Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Jesus's exhortation is that we should fear or reverence the one who has the power over this judgment—the authority and jurisdiction over that judgment that will one day come. Therefore, the fact that people fear the coming judgment is not necessarily a bad thing.

I heard one preacher once say that fear is good office work for repentance, and I think that is true. There is a certain aspect of that fear stirring us to seek a way to avoid being judged with punishment beyond this life. Many people hope that their good works will outweigh their bad works, and that once they stand before the King, God, for judgment, He will see their efforts. However, the Scriptures do not reveal that. Isaiah rightly tells us in Isaiah chapter 64 that all of our good works are as filthy rags before God. He is so immaculately holy and perfect that, in the light of His perfection, even our good works will never measure up.

Thus, for an individual to fear that coming judgment is not necessarily a bad thing. As a result of the fall described in Genesis chapter 3, which we have studied many times here at Cross Connection, death entered the world. In Genesis chapter 2, verse 18, God told Adam, "Of all the trees in the garden, you may freely eat; but of the tree in the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die."

Well, you know the story. Eve and Adam ate and partook of that tree, and then death entered in. There was an immediate fear that came upon them. They were gripped by fear when they heard the voice of God coming into the garden. They were afraid.

Hid themselves, and that is man's response to the coming of God in the face of sin and death: to be afraid. This fear is exhibited from the very earliest points in Scripture, in Genesis chapter 3. Fear is there of this judge and this coming judgment.

Point number one on your outlines: all of humanity lives under the fearful shadow of death. Now, it's 11 days from Christmas, and I know that is a wonderfully hope-filled and joyful Advent message. However, all of humanity lives under the fearful shadow of death.

Be grateful; we're not done yet. We're not going to stop there. We'll move on from that truth, from that point. Today, we will do as we often do here at Cross Connection. Many times throughout the year, we will partake of communion. In just a moment, we will take the bread and then the cup. If you've been a part of this church or any Christian church for any length of time, then you understand the symbolism here that was instituted by Jesus on the night that He was betrayed by Judas and forsaken by the rest of His disciples.

Before that took place, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In like manner, after they had eaten the meal, He took the cup and said, "This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."

It is a tangible, physical reminder—something that we can touch, see, smell, and taste. It is something that we can hold on to as a reminder of what Jesus did for us. I recognize that this is not necessarily associated with this time of year; it is more connected to a holiday that Christians celebrate in the spring, close to the Jewish holiday of Passover. We remember on Good Friday His death and on Easter His resurrection. The night before all of that took place, He took bread and He took the cup as a reminder and commemorated it.

And calls us to commemorate His death, burial, and resurrection. As you study church history, you see that from their earliest days, they celebrated and commemorated Jesus's death on the cross on Good Friday and His resurrection on Resurrection Sunday. This came later to be known as Easter. This is something that the church has done from its very beginning because Jesus called them to commemorate that event. He called them to commemorate Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.

Not only would they do that annually at the time of Good Friday and at the time of Resurrection Sunday, but they would also do that weekly. Many times, as the church would gather together in homes or corporately on the Lord's Day, which is Sunday, they would gather continually and consistently to partake of the bread and the cup. They would annually recognize these events as well.

From the earliest days, Paul talks about it when he writes to the church in Corinth in First Corinthians chapter 11, which we will actually look at later on in our service together. This was just about 20 years after Jesus died on the cross, a little over 20 years after the church was founded. He was already talking about commemorating the Lord's death, burial, and resurrection through the taking of the bread and the cup.

However, it wasn't until about the third century A.D., approximately 200 to 250 years after Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection, that the church began to commemorate not only His death, burial, and resurrection but also His birth. Why? Because it was during that time that the church began to recognize and understand that there would never have been a Good Friday and a Resurrection Sunday had there not been an Advent. There would never be a crucifixion and a resurrection had there not been the incarnation.

In the third century A.D., the church began to commemorate and celebrate the coming of Christ, His coming into the world. Neither the crucifixion nor the resurrection would have happened without the incarnation. This means that had there not been an incarnation, had there not been the Advent, the coming of the Christ child unto us, a child is born, unto us a son is given, then all of humanity would still...

Be subject to this fear of death, and all of humanity would still be under the fearful shadow of death. However, we don't have to live there. Why not? If you look at the Gospel of John, specifically John chapter 1, verse 14, which is considered one of the most famous verses dealing with the incarnation—God becoming man—we read this: "And the Word," which is a title that Jesus held in eternity, "became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Point number two on your outline: the incarnation described here in John chapter 1, verse 14, brings in glory, grace, and truth. The advent of the child that is born, in fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, was written 700 years before He was born in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary. The advent of Jesus is the ushering in of the fullness of glory, grace, and truth.

The Apostle John, who is the author of the Gospel of John, goes on to say that from that fullness, from that abundance, we have all received one gracious blessing after another. Because of the coming, the ushering in of the fullness of the glory, grace, and truth of God in the man Jesus Christ, we have all received through Him one gracious blessing after another. He continues by stating that the law came through Moses, but grace and truth come through Jesus Christ.

The advent, which is celebrated annually—at least in our culture—on December 25th, is also celebrated in other parts of the church on January 6th. The time between December 25th and January 6th is called the Twelve Days of Christmas, and so the church celebrates the advent.

The coming of the Messiah fulfills the Old Testament prophecies. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Immanuel. These prophecies were given not only by Isaiah but also by Micah, who states that He will be born in Bethlehem, and by Zechariah, who provides a measure of time for when these things will come to pass. David was told that it would come through his line in 2 Samuel 7. We can even trace this back to Genesis chapter 3, where we see that the seed of a woman will crush the head of the serpent. All of these prophecies come to bear in Jesus, who was born 2,000 years ago. We celebrate this time of year, regardless of whether He was born on December 25th or not.

What are the odds that He would be born on December 25th? I suggest to you that they are only one in 365. It's not all that astronomical. The incarnation brings glory, grace, and truth in the man Jesus Christ. Through the coming of Jesus, which is celebrated annually at Christmas, glorious grace and truth break in upon those who are living under the shadow of death.

He did not only come; He did not merely show up. He didn't come just to feed those who were hungry or to heal those who were sick, although He did that. He didn't only come to cast demons out of those who were demon-possessed and to teach good messages. His purpose in coming was to be the child that was born, the son that was given. That was His purpose in coming.

That's why John the Baptist, as recorded in the Gospel of John, says, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." To the people to whom those words were uttered, the Jews understood exactly what that meant. Their entire world, their entire life, was caught up in the sacrifice of lambs, bulls, and goats year by year, day by day, month by month. These sacrifices were offered as a covering for their sin, but they had to be offered continually for more than a thousand years. Yet John says, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." He does not merely cover it; He removes it. By removing that sin, He removes the fear of death.

He removes the shadow of the fear of death. The King of Glory does so. He came not just to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and cast demons out of people to do social justice, although that is good. That's not the primary purpose for which He came. Those are the benefits of His coming, but the primary purpose of His coming was the cross.

On the day that He would be crucified, He stood before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Pilate asked Him, "Are you a king?" Jesus responded in this way in John chapter 18, verse 37: "For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world." At the end of that day, He would cry, "It is finished." I suggest to you that this is the cause for which He came into the world. Amen.

But that cause could not have been fulfilled had He not come into the world. Had the Advent not taken place, it would not have happened. If all Jesus had come to do was merely feed the hungry and heal the sick, then it would have been insufficient, and it would not remove the fear of death. Yet, Jesus came to do far more than that.

Because God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, should not die, but have everlasting life. In that, the fear of death is removed.

We can boil it down in this way: The Church for hundreds of years has celebrated five evangelical feasts. Early on in the Church's history, they celebrated the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus through commemoration of the bread and the cup. Over time, more celebrations came about. They not only celebrated His death, burial, and resurrection, but they began to celebrate His ascension. They not only celebrated His ascension into heaven, but they also celebrated the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

After about 200 years, they began to celebrate His Advent as well. From that time, in the third century A.D. until about the 16th century A.D., there were many other feasts that Christians, the Church, began to add. They began to add all kinds of feasts for different saints, to the point that by the 16th century, there was almost a feast every single day for a different saint, and sometimes multiple saints on every single day. Then, something awesome happened that we are the product of.

In the 16th century, we witnessed what we call the Protestant Reformation. With the Protestant Reformation came a return to sola scriptura, the Scriptures. The church did away with all these other feasts and once again centered on five feasts, five times of celebration for the evangelical church. These are Advent, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, the Ascension, and Pentecost. For hundreds of years, these have been the five feasts that the church has commemorated and celebrated.

This can be reduced to a key point: without Christmas, there is no Good Friday, no Easter, no Ascension, and no Pentecost. Without Christmas, there is no Good Friday, no Easter, no Ascension, and no Pentecost. There is one more blank to consider; it is not a feast, but without Christmas, there is no church. Think about that for a moment. Without Christmas, the Advent, there is no Good Friday, no Resurrection Sunday, no Ascension of Jesus back to heaven from which He came, no outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and no us. There is no church without Christmas. We are still subject to fear.

However, the author of Hebrews writes something great, and I'd like you to turn there. I'm going to read it from a different version, but Hebrews chapter 2 will give you the sense of it. Whatever version you have, Hebrews is in the New Testament, right after the book of Philemon and just before the book of James.

Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14 states, "Because God's children are human beings made of flesh and blood, the Son (capital S) also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of death."

Point number four on your outline: Christmas equals the freedom from fear and death. Only in this way could Jesus set free all who have lived their lives as slaves in bondage to the fear of death. Christmas equals the freedom from fear and death.

Just before this holiday season, we had a series of teachings through Revelation chapters 2 and 3. If you would turn back to the Book of Revelation, this last book in your Bibles, we will look at Revelation chapter 1. We examined these verses during that series.

In Revelation chapter 1, verse 17, we find that this is decades after Jesus's death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. John the Apostle, who wrote the Gospel of John and the letters of 1, 2, and 3 John, also writes this Revelation, the Apocalypse. John was in exile on the island of Patmos, facing possible execution, and yet he had no fear of death. Why?

Look at Revelation chapter 1, verse 17. John says, "When I saw Him, Jesus, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying, 'Do not be afraid.'" These are the same words that Zechariah heard, the same words that Mary heard, and the same words that the shepherds in the field heard on the day of the advent of the Messiah. Now, the Messiah lays His right hand on John and says, "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of death and Hades."

I believe there are only two ways a person would not be afraid of death and the judgment that comes. One, they know the One who holds the keys of death, the One who was dead and is alive forever. He is called in John chapter 11 the Resurrection and the Life. That is one way to no longer live under the shadow of the fear of death. The other way, as I described earlier, is to just be ignorant of the fact that...

Death will come, or judgment will ensue afterwards, but none of you are ignorant of that fact. I would suggest to you that most people you know are not ignorant of that fact; they recognize in some way that death will come and that judgment will follow. You and I have family members, neighbors, friends, and maybe co-workers who still live under the shadow of the fear of death. One of the greatest outcomes of Christmas is the doing away with the fear of death because Christmas is the advent of the one who is the resurrection and the life, the one who was dead but lives forevermore. He is the one who comes full of grace and truth and ushers glory into those who are in darkness.

In First Corinthians chapter 11, the Apostle Paul records for us that Jesus, on the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread. When He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples, telling them to take and eat, "This is my body, which is broken for you." I will now ask our worship team and our ushers to come back up as we prepare to partake of communion together this morning.

Before we do, I want to read something that I wrote the other night that I think is appropriate. As Christians, our purpose in this life is to be witnesses of Christ to a lost, dying, and needy world. Christians are to incarnate, just like Jesus did, the glory, grace, and truth of God.

Some Christians have promoted an abandonment or a boycott of the Christmas holiday for one of two reasons: most of the time, number one, because of modern materialistic commercialism, or number two, because of perceived cultic connections in ancient paganism. I believe that such connections, or such a departure or boycott, is an affront to the incarnational nature of Jesus.

The gospel and the Christian life raise questions about cultural connections to Christmas and pagan practices of ancient times. While the link is not as clear as some people assert or suppose, you are free to question whether or not that is true. You have freedom in Christ to celebrate or not celebrate the Christmas holiday should you so choose. If you have questions about the connection between those things, I recommend the book by Pastor Doug Wilson called "God Rest Ye, Mary." It is a great book.

Is there a materialistic commercialism connected to Christmas in modern American culture? Yes, you'd be a fool to not see it. Some people argue that we need to get rid of Christmas. Does that commercial connection to Christmas necessitate an abandonment or boycott of the holiday? I would say no, just as we should not abandon the church because there are bad representations of churches. We should not abandon worship songs because music labels market worship music and make a profit off of it. We should not get rid of our Bibles because publishing companies produce them in varying sizes, colors, and translations for profit.

You see, we can still proclaim the truth through the Scriptures, regardless of their size or cover color. We can still worship our Savior, even though music labels may profit from marketing these songs. The church, despite its bad representations, remains the primary place where sinners find salvation. It is still the primary place where married couples are united and where mourners find comfort at funerals.

Boycotting or abandoning Christmas would, I believe, be exactly what the devil would want the church to do. To run away from Christmas is to run away from one of the only remaining state-recognized and, in some ways, state-sponsored expressions of Christianity in a culture that grows more secular by the minute. Abandoning Christmas would be detrimental to our faith and witness.

Proverbial throwing the baby Jesus out with the cultural bathwater. Now, at the end of the day, the Apostle Paul said this to the Romans, and I say this to you: If you say you have a problem with Christmas, that's perfectly fine. He who observes the day observes it to the Lord, and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.

But why do you judge your brother or show contempt or gossip about your brother? A wholesale abandonment of Christmas would mean a departure from a great opportunity that you and I have to incarnate the glory of Christ to people who are receptive to it this time of year.

So, myself and the leaders of this church will continue to celebrate Christmas. To whoever it may be that wrote me the anonymous letter, I would appreciate it if you would come talk to me in person. Now, let's worship the Lord.