Birth: A New Voice With Heaven’s Song

Journey Through the Bible Series
Preached by Dr. Peter James Flamming, 
First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va.
December 29, 2002

Text: Luke 2; Matt. 1; Psalm 95:1,2; 96:1; 98:1, 149:1

Have you noticed how quickly the Christmas music stops after December 25th? It is like someone pulled a gigantic switch and all the Christmas music went out. It is uncanny really. If someone passed a law that after December 25 there would be no Christmas music sung until next year, some folks would sing White Christmas in July just to prove they can. But there is no law and Christmas music just drops off the cliff. Even in church. Now and again Ministers of Music have sung “Joy to the World the Lord has come” - in August. But the congregation responds like Peppermint Patty in Peanuts: “This is weird sir.”

You may not have noticed but it was that way on the first Christmas. The Angels appeared. The Gloria was sung. Then came the Heavenly Host Tabernacle Choir. They were something. They were in tune, perfect pitch, blended beautifully. Those of us who “make a joyful noise” weren’t invited. I mean, even the Mormon Tabernacle Choir shrinks alongside this group. Right? Everybody who agrees with me that the Heavenly Host Tabernacle Choir at Bethlehem were the best, nod your head. I agree.

Guess what happened next? They left! Luke 2:15 says they went back into heaven. They were out of there. There is no mention of the Heavenly Host Tabernacle Choir again in the Christmas story.

But the music didn’t stop. And that is what this sermon is about.

Take a closer look. After the Heavenly Host Choir left, some mighty powerful songs were sung. Sung from the heart. Sung from within. Sung with belief. Sung with resolve. Sung with Thanksgiving.

There was the Shepherd’s Song. The title of it was “Step Out and See What God Can Do.” I suspect it was in the key of C.

            There was Simeon’s Song: A Song of Answered Prayer

            There was Anna’s Song: A Song of Thanksgiving

            The Wise Men’s Song might have been, You Find God When You Give Yourself.             

What is this emphasis upon a new song? It is a heavy big time theme in the Bible.

Look at Psalm 33

            Praise the Lord with the harp. . .

                        Sing to him a new song;

                        play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Praising the Lord with the harp reminds me of the minister who met one of his parishioners and said, “I’ve been missing you at services lately.” To which the man said, “Well, Pastor, have you ever played the harp?” The Pastor shook his head with a puzzled look on his face. “Have you ever listened to anyone learning to play the harp.?” The Pastor shook his head again. “Well,” said the man, “about three months ago my daughter started taking harp lessons. Now I am not as eager to get to heaven as I once was.”

Back to the Psalms and their target of a new song.

Look at Psalm 96:1

            Sing to the Lord a new song;

                        sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Look at Psalm 98:1

            Sing to the Lord a new song,

                        for he has done marvelous things.

Look at Psalm 144:9

            I will sing a new song to you, O God;

                        on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you.

Look at Psalm 149:1

            Sing to the Lord a new song,

                        his praise in the assembly of his saints.

The ancient world was alive with song.

They sang when they worked, they sang when they danced.

They sang at their weddings, they sang in their grief.  

They sang in the morning, they sang at night. 

They sang in victory, they sang in defeat.

Most of all they sang when they worshipped.

If you don’t believe me, take the book of Psalms and underline every time you come to the word sing or song. You will be amazed at the many different ways singing to God is related to your life.

Let me ask you. What has God been doing in your life this Christmas? What new song has God composed in your heart this Christmas? Or have you been a total spectator listening to the rah-ta-ta-ta of the drummer boy? Look with me at some new songs from the heart. All of them were sung after Jesus was born.

The Shepherd’s Song: “Step Out and See What God Can Do”

Which brings us to the Shepherds. The Shepherds sang a New Song which might be entitled, “Step Out and See What God Can Do.”

The Shepherds  might have been singing from Psalm 149:1.

            Sing to the Lord a new song,

                        his praise in the assembly of his saints.

The shepherds were an assembly. The nouns and pronouns are always plural. When the Heavenly Host Tabernacle Choir was singing, they were an audience. The Heavenly Host were up there. The Shepherds were down here. But the music stirred and even transformed them. It happens in worship all the time. You sit and are stirred. A tear may come. An insight is given. The Lord is present. The audience has turned into an assembly of saints.

“Let us go and see what has come to pass,” they said. They stepped out to see what God had been doing.

They had been spectators, now they become participants.

They had been watchers, now they become witnesses.

Through their going and their seeing, they become believers.

Jesus said of his generation that they look but they don’t see;

            they hear but they don’t listen.

The shepherds were different. They stepped out to see what had come to pass and in so doing, they believed. God gave them a new song: Step Out and See that God Can Do.

Simeon’s Song: The Song of Answered Prayer

Eight days after Jesus was born he was brought to the Temple by Mary and Joseph to be circumcised as the law required. When they completed all that the law required, they were on their way out. A strange thing happened. They met Simeon. In East Africa they would call him an Mzee, an older man with wisdom. He was a man of prayer. Deep in his soul he carried deep concerns about his people and especially about his nation. Doubtless he sometimes felt God had abandoned Israel.

But God revealed to him that the answer was in the making. That little baby he held in his arms would grow up to be the answer he was looking for. And Simeon  Jesus in his arms and blessed him and thanked God for his answer to prayer. His song is recorded in Luke 2:29-32:

            Sovereign Lord . . .

            my eyes have seen your salvation,

                        which you have prepared in the sight of all people.

            a light for revelation to the Gentiles

                        and for glory to your people Israel.”           

Simeon’s song is the song of answered prayer. God has fulfilled his promise. Trust has won again.

A man who held a prominent place on a University Faculty found things turning sour. Interpersonal difficulties had developed on the faculty. Cutting criticisms had been made of the work he had done. Financially tough times had caused cut backs. He found himself at middle age in a place he could not have imagined himself to be: angry, threatened, fearful, doubtful of his own abilities. Having been raised in the church he found himself praying, “God why have you abandoned me?”

A year later, when things had settled down and evened out, he began to reflect on that prayer - “God, why have you abandoned me?” He remembered two phone calls that had made the difference in those days. One, an older black woman, highly respected in her field, called him unexpectedly to say, “You have a beautiful soul. I love you. You are my brother.” Another, a younger man whose dedicated work with the poor had been an inspiration called him, unexpectedly, and said, “You are so talented. You have so many gifts. I know it is a struggle. I just want you to know I love you.” God had not abandoned him.

The new song of answered prayer often comes through others, the gift  Simeon gave to the baby Jesus. (Wendy Wright, The Vigil, p. 74)

Anna’s Song: A Song of Thanksgiving

Anna. What a remarkable woman.

Life had not been easy for Anna. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. That was probably in her mid-twenties. She is now 84. Sixty years a widow.

I suppose she could have spent most of her life asking, “Why me?” It is a worthy question. But camp with “Why me?” too long and bitterness takes over. Anna needed a new song. God gave her a song of purpose and a song of thanksgiving. She became what we would call a volunteer and found her calling. She was to serve at the temple.

Purposeful living often brings purposeful thanksgiving. On that day when Anna and the baby Jesus got together, her prayer and her song came forth in the melody of praise and gratitude. Luke reports simply and reverently, “She gave thanks to God.”  

The Song of the Wise Men: You Find God When You Give Yourself.

The story of the wise men, or the magi, has fascinated people through the centuries. They are a strange fit to the Christmas story. They are foreigners. Had they decided to settle down in Palestine their ways and their background would have been unacceptable.  They were students of the stars, not the law. Their culture is foreign, their ways are strange. They are a reminder that God has his people everywhere.

I heard about the President of a company who was taken with a book that impressed him greatly. It had as its title, Sons and Daughters of God. He decided to make it a gift to all of his employees and asked the book distributor to send him 350 copies. A few days later there came a reply that read, “Sorry, but we can’t find three hundred and fifty Sons and Daughters of God in Chicago, try Los Angeles.” The Magi remind us that God has his sons and daughters everywhere even if we can’t recognize them.

But the Magi have something much deeper to teach us. A Syrian believer of the 4th century saw it, and saw it well. His name was Ephrem and he lived in a cynical, intellectual society, that had lost its heart and its soul. He wrote:

            The Magi, too, sought Him,

                        and when they found Him in the crib,

                        they worshiped him instead of investigated him,

                        they offered him their silence.

            Instead of empty controversies, they gave Him offerings.

            You too, seek the First-born, and if you find Him on high,

                        instead of your confused searchings,

                                    open the treasures of your heart to him

                        and offer Him your life and deeds.

The greatest gifts and never from under the tree. They are the treasures of the heart.

Your Song

Well, what about your song? What has God been doing in your life this Christmas? What new song needs to be sung in your soul as you turn toward your new year?

The Song of the Shepherds? Step Out and See what God Can Do

How about Simeon’s Song of Answered Prayer? Always, always, always the place to begin is prayer.  

Or what about the Thanksgiving Song of Anna that turns a life of difficulty into a life of praise?

Those Magi - hearts and treasures open to a God they scarcely knew.

What about your song?

© 2002 James Flamming