The Eucatastrophe of Christmas

Christ Redeemer Church

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The Eucatastrophe of Christmas

Micah 1:1-7; 7:18-20; December 3, 2023; Mike O'Leary

December 3, 2023 • Mike O'Leary • Micah 7:18–20, Micah 1:1–7

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), Author & Theologian

“It is the mark of a good fairy-story, of the higher or more complete kind, that however wild its events, however fantastic or terrible the adventures, it can give to child or man that hears it, when the ‘turn’ comes, a catch of the breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, near to (or indeed accompanied by) tears, as keen as that given by any form of literary art, and having a peculiar quality.”

~J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), Author

“But wait, I haven’t even told you the best part yet.

You see - as if there wasn’t enough here already to impress you -

The best part about this story is this story is true.

The only fairytale that’s not a fairytale.”

~“The Damsel and the Villain” by Jimmy Needham

“What does Christmas feel like for me? It feels like I’m in a courtroom where my life hangs in the balance. The prosecuting attorney is the unassailable law of God, and the defense attorney does not exist. There is no defense. It is manifest to everyone in the courtroom that all evidence is against me, and the judge, the son of the king of the realm, brings down the gavel: ‘Guilty.’ I’m sentenced to execution and everlasting ruin. And as they leave the courtroom with me in bonds, the son-judge follows me out, pulls me aside, and says, ‘I’m going to take your condemnation… I love you.’”

~John Piper (1946-Present), Pastor & Author

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

‘Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”

~“O Holy Night” by Adolphe Adam

SERMON PASSAGE

Micah 1:1-7; 7:18-20 (ESV)

Micah 1

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear, you peoples, all of you;

pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,

and let the Lord God be a witness against you,

the Lord from his holy temple.

3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place,

and will come down and tread upon the high

places of the earth.

4 And the mountains will melt under him,

and the valleys will split open,

like wax before the fire,

like waters poured down a steep place.

5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob

and for the sins of the house of Israel.

What is the transgression of Jacob?

Is it not Samaria?

And what is the high place of Judah?

Is it not Jerusalem?

6 Therefore I will make Samaria

a heap in the open country,

a place for planting vineyards,

and I will pour down her stones into the valley

and uncover her foundations.

7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,

all her wages shall be burned with fire,

and all her idols I will lay waste,

for from the fee of a prostitute

she gathered them,

and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

Micah 7

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity

and passing over transgression

for the remnant of his inheritance?

He does not retain his anger forever,

because he delights in steadfast love.

19 He will again have compassion on us;

he will tread our iniquities underfoot.

You will cast all our sins

into the depths of the sea.

20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob

and steadfast love to Abraham,

as you have sworn to our fathers

from the days of old.

What Does the Lord Require of You?

December 31, 2023 • Ryan Bouton • Micah 6:1–8

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Gather ‘round, ye children, come Listen to the old, old story Of the pow’r of death undone By an infant born of glory Son of God, Son of Man. So sing out with joy for the brave little boy Who was God, but He made Himself nothing He gave up His pride and He came here to die like a man.” ~ Andrew Peterson, “Gather ‘Round, Ye Children, Come” “Now the same Spirit dwelling in Christ’s heart in heaven, that does in yours here, and always working in his heart first for you, and then in yours by commission from him; rest assured, therefore, that that Spirit stirs up in him bowels of mercy infinitely larger towards you than you can have unto yourselves.” ~ Thomas Goodwin, The Heart of Christ in Heaven Towards Sinners on Earth “As Bunyan says, describing his first and illusory conversion, ‘I thought there was no man in England that pleased God better than I.’ Beaten out of this, we next offer our own humility to God’s admiration. Surely He’ll like that? Or if not that, our clear-sighted and humble recognition that we still lack humility. Thus, depth beneath depth and subtlety within subtlety, there remains some lingering idea of our own, our very own, attractiveness. It is easy to acknowledge, but almost impossible to realize for long, that we are mirrors whose brightness, if we are bright, is wholly derived from the sun that shines upon us. Surely we must have a little - however little - native luminosity?” ~ C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ~ Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien SERMON PASSAGE Micah 6:1-8 (ESV) 1 Hear what the Lord says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” 6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

The Promise Keeping God

December 24, 2023 • Noah Crane • Micah 5:1–5, Micah 7:7–20

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “On a starlit hillside, shepherds watched their sheep. Slowly, David's city drifted off to sleep. But to this little town of no great renown The Lord had a promise to keep. Prophets had foretold it, a mighty King would come, Long awaited Ruler, God’s Anointed One. But the Sovereign of all looked helpless and small As God gave the world His own Son. Wondrous gift of heaven: the Father sends the Son. Planned from time eternal, moved by holy love. He will carry our curse and death He’ll reverse, So we can be daughters and sons. And who would have dreamed or ever foreseen That we could hold God in our hands? The Giver of Life is born in the night Revealing God’s glorious plan To save the world.” ~“Who Would Have Dreamed,” Sovereign Grace Music “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” ~“O Little Town of Bethlehem,” Phillips Brooks “God promises to keep His people and He will keep His promises.” ~ Charles Spurgeon, 19th century Baptist preacher “King of Kings yet born of Mary, As of old on earth he stood, Lord of lords in human vesture, In the body and the blood, He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food.” ~“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence,” The Divine Liturgy of St. James SERMON PASSAGE Micah 5:1-5, 7:7-20 (ESV) Micah 5 1 Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. 2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. 3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men; Micah 7 7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. 8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. 9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. 10 Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets. 11 A day for the building of your walls! In that day the boundary shall be far extended. 12 In that day they will come to you, from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. 13 But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds. 14 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. 15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things. 16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; 17 they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God, and they shall be in fear of you. 18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

December 17, 2023 • Drew Matter • Micah 4:1–7

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “For outlandish creatures like us, on our way to a heart, a brain, and courage, Bethlehem is not the end of our journey but only the beginning - not home but the place through which we must pass if ever we are to reach home at last.” ~Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” ~The Gospel of Matthew 26:52-54 “The Trumpet Child will blow his horn Will blast the sky till it’s reborn With Gabriel’s power and Satchmo’s grace He will surprise the human race; The trumpet he will use to blow Is being fashioned out of fire The mouthpiece is a glowing coal The bell a burst of wild desire. The Trumpet Child will riff on love Thelonious notes from up above He’ll improvise a kingdom come Accompanied by a different drum; The Trumpet Child will banquet here Until the lost are truly found A thousand days, a thousand years, Nobody knows for sure how long. The rich forget about their gold The meek and mild are strangely bold A lion lies beside a lamb And licks a murderer’s outstretched hand; The Trumpet Child will lift a glass His bride now leaning in at last His final aim to fill with joy The earth that man all but destroyed.” ~ “The Trumpet Child,” Over the Rhine SERMON PASSAGE Micah 4:1-7 (ESV) 1 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, 2 and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 3 He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; 4 but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. 5 For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. 6 In that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted; 7 and the lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore.