Rev. David Holwick ZP The Carols of Christmas, #4
First Baptist Church "O Come, All Ye Faithful"
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 28, 2008
Luke 2:25-32
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I. A new carol that sounds old.
A. John Francis Wade, an English Catholic, fled to France in 1745.
1) He was suspected of plotting against the king.
2) The French put him in a monastery where his job was copying
medieval music.
3) When he produced the song "Adeste Fideles" a few years
later, people assumed he had found an ancient Latin
poem and set it to music.
a) Instead, it was something new he had composed himself.
b) The Latin just made it sound ancient.
B. The French Revolution caused another twist.
1) Catholics in France now ran for their lives to England.
a) The leaders of the Revolution had a habit of putting
priests in the guillotine.
b) Some of the Catholic refugees brought the song with
them.
2) An English pastor translated it "Ye faithful, approach ye."
a) It didn't catch on.
b) A decade later the pastor converted to Catholicism and
took another shot at the song.
1> This time he translated it, "O come, all ye
faithful, joyful and triumphant."
2> This version definitely caught on.
A> It is a favorite among Protestants.
B> Catholics like Bing Crosby prefer the Latin
version.
C. Faithfulness is the mark of a true believer.
1) How faithful are you?
II. The faithful are people who are ready to see God.
A. Simeon was such a person.
1) He is described as righteous and devout.
a) He took his religion seriously.
2) He was focused on the promises in the prophets.
B. Simeon was a spiritual man in the true sense.
1) We often see spirituality as a person's focus on God.
2) Here, it is God's focus on him.
a) God had already revealed to him that he would
see the Messiah.
b) At this instant, the Spirit is on him in a
special way. (often used of prophets)
3) Simeon does exactly what the Spirit leads him to do.
C. Simeon recognized the true mission of Jesus.
1) Jesus will bring salvation. 2:30
2) Jesus will be a universal savior, not just to Jews. 2:31
III. The faithful are still out there.
A. Honoring God in out-of-the-way places.
It was Christmas Eve, and the first of 14,000 townspeople began
streaming through the building's huge double doors.
A beam of light shone down from above, as though from heaven
itself, highlighting an elaborate Nativity scene.
Marble angels gazed down upon the largest pipe organ in the
world - 461 ranks, 416 stops, 28,482 pipes.
As people settled into their seats, the organist led the crowd
in singing the first hymn: "O Come, All Ye Faithful."
Does this sound like a Christmas Eve service at Rick Warren's
megachurch?
If you said "yes," you guessed wrong.
This spectacular Christmas celebration took place, not in a church
at all, but in a department store.
It was an annual attraction that drew shoppers to the leading
Philadelphia department store, Wanamaker's, from the 1910s to
the 1950s.
A lot of the consumerism of Christmas is actually the church's
fault.
In the early years of America, churches did not celebrate
Christmas.
They viewed the hollday as a Catholic invention.
Even in the 1880's, Methodists ignored Christmas in church.
Home celebrations were acceptable, but not church ones.
Since churches ignored Christmas, stores thought it was fair
game for them.
Department store titans like John Wanamaker stepped in where
angels feared to tread, fostering the celebration of
Christmas in the marketplace instead of the church.
Christmas became commercialized because Christians did not make
it holy.
(Easter has always been treated as holy, and stores don't do
much with it.)
#5092
1) On the other hand, all the holiday hoopla shows that people
are still attracted to the spiritual aspect of life.
a) And they don't limit their search to churches.
b) They want something that will bring them joy and
fulfillment.
1> That Nintendo WII with the Fitness game can only
go so far....
2) God doesn't want religious people.
a) He wants faithful followers.
b) People who will honor him - and obey him.
B. The faithful are those who apply Jesus' teachings.
1) He said they hear God's word, and put it into practice.
2) He often compares his followers to servants.
a) How do those servants act when the master is away?
b) They had better be getting their jobs done! Matt 24:45
c) Those who do will be honored as "good and faithful
servants." Matt 25:21
C. We don't have to be famous, just faithful.
For three decades, Myrna Loy was one of the most
recognizable faces at the movies.
She appeared in over 120 films in her career, and is
best remembered for her comedies.
The most famous was the "Thin Man" mysteries of the
1930's.
Loy played a thrill-seeking wife who managed to get her
detective husband Nick embroiled in one comic
adventure after another.
She played opposite John Barrymore, William Powell, and
Clark Gable.
She was elected "Queen of Hollywood" in the 1930's.
Yet the one type of recognition which Hollywood actors
most hunger for never came to Myrna Loy.
She never received an Academy Award; for that matter,
she never even received a nomination for an Oscar.
It seemed that Myrna Loy would for her entire life be
forgotten by the awards committees.
But finally, in 1988, at age 83, she was honored with a
Lifetime Achievement Award by the Kennedy Center.
The Academy Awards followed suit with an honorary award
two years later.
When Myrna Loy died in 1993, she could at least say that
at long last her work had been rewarded.
In the same way, God has a "lifetime achievement award"
waiting for each and every one of His faithful followers.
#35574
1) Lots of people doing small things can make a big difference.
2) You must find what your gift is, and use it for God's glory.
IV. The faithful will come.
A. The faithful were called to come to Bethlehem to honor Jesus.
1) Just like in "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing," the angels
sing the praises of Jesus.
2) The faithful also give him glory.
3) A few days later, Simeon gave praise to God for what he
had seen.
4) There is excitement in recognizing what God is doing.
B. Are you a faithful seeker?
1) If God were to do something new today, would you recognize it?
a) It is human nature to think that we "get it."
b) But in every generation only a few truly do.
c) Jesus asked his disciples, "When the Son of Man comes,
will he find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8
2) God has revealed his plan in the Bible.
a) Not only Jesus' first coming, but his second.
b) You must accept his plan, and put it into practice.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 5092 "O Come All Ye Shoppers: The Commercialization of Christmas," by
Charles Colson, BreakPoint Commentary, December 21, 1999.
#35574 "Getting A Lifetime Achievement Award," http://www.e-steeple.com,
derived from Microsoft Bookshelf '96.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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