"GOD ALMIGHTY USES THE GODS OF THIS WORLD AS TOOLS IN HIS HAND TO BRING ABOUT HIS PLAN OF SALVATION."

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Hymn 17:1,2,3,4,5,6
Hymn 16:1,2 (Ps 89:1 after baptism)
Psalm 113:2
Psalm 135:1,2,3,6
Psalm 97:4; Hymn 15:3,4

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

The goddess of Multiculturalism has received a higher profile in Perth in the last number of weeks. In Hay Street Mall is a presentation showing the Lord Jesus celebrating his birthday with Confucius, Buddah, Mohammed, and an Orthodox Jew. The purpose of displaying Jesus as celebrating His birthday with representatives of other religions is recorded like this: Jesus’ "friends include Confucius, Buddah and Mohammed. They are united by the basic good will of all religions and are a truly multi-cultural gathering." Here is multiculturalism at its best (or maybe I should say ‘worst’); here all differences between the religions of the world are wiped away, here every religion is seen as essentially equal. This, brothers and sisters, is the doctrine of our day: all may believe what they will, as long as you do not insist upon your own religion being the only true one. And if you insist that your own religion is the only way to salvation, you are branded as a Fundamentalist – and there is no word in today’s religious vocabulary that is supposed to be as denigrating as being called a Fundamentalist. It’s this same spirit of multiculturalism that puts the brakes on mission work, that puts the brakes too on speaking up in one’s daily work for the truth of Scripture. Proselytising, urging people to repent of serving other gods and declare faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to the Father undermines the revered position accorded to the goddess of Multiculturalism.

In this church you will not find appreciation for Multiculturalism. I know it is politically incorrect to speak like this, but followers of Confucius, Buddah, Mohammed, and an Orthodox Jew follow a lie. Neither Confucius, Buddah, Mohammed, nor an Orthodox Jew can justify any one before the God offended by our sins in Paradise; only Christ Jesus is able to do that. We propagate a lie, a cruel deception, if we place any religion on a level with the Christian faith. We propagate a lie, a cruel deception, if we present Jesus as celebrating His birth with the representations of false religions as His friends. Multiculturalism is a heresy, a false god.

Why I say this? There are any number of passages of Scripture that can be used to show Multiculturalism is a false god. On this Christmas Day I draw your attention to the account of Jesus’ birth in Luke 2. Specifically, I draw out for you this morning how this passage makes a laughing stock of the gods of this world.

I summarise the sermon with this theme:

1 "A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered," writes Luke. That little statement tells us about all we know from the Bible about Caesar. Obviously, he was a man of great power. He wants a census, a list of who lives where, what is his trade, his income, his faith, etc. Caesar wants it, and all the world responds; everywhere people drop their tools to be registered. In truth, he’s a man of great authority. Other than that, there’s not much we generally know about the man. He’s just part of the Christmas story....

Yet if we are to appreciate the message of our text, brothers and sisters, we shall do well to put ourselves momentarily in the shoes of those who first read Luke’s gospel. What did Theophilus and those with him know of Caesar Augustus? What did his decree mean to them?

As it turns out, congregation, the name of Caesar Augustus conjured up very specific and concrete images in the minds of Luke’s first readers. Luke did not have to explain who this Caesar was; these readers knew their times, knew exactly what Caesar Augustus stood for – just as we know today what Saddam Hussein stands for. Who, then, was Caesar Augustus?

All the known world at the time of the Saviour’s birth was subject to Rome. In fact, for numerous decades Roman armies had trampled back and forth across the Mediterranean world in an effort to subdue nations. Yet these Roman armies fought not only the various nations of the world; these Roman armies regularly also fought each other. Particularly in the decades just before Jesus’ birth, one general, jealous of the power of another, pitted his soldiers against those of another general. In a word, the sons of Rome did little else than fight, be it foreign nations or their own brothers.

As can be understood, this infighting amongst Romans led to much blood-shed, led eventually to people being sick of war. In this environment there arose a brilliant new general by the name of Octavian, who in quick order defeated rival generals and consolidated all the Roman soldiers under his command. That act, we can understand, implied the end of Roman infighting, and, as it turned out, implied also the end of war with peoples who didn’t appreciate their Roman overlords. For Rome’s united army under this general Octavian was just too strong for any resistance.

The end of war. That meant peace. Pax Romana. In gratitude to Octavian for the peace and stability he brought, the people acknowledged him as Caesar, king of the Roman empire. More, in appreciation for the peace Octavian brought, the Roman senate conferred on him a new name, the name Augustus. That name may mean nothing to our English ears, but the people who spoke the language of Rome understood very well what that name meant. For ‘Augustus’ is simply the Latin word for ‘consecrated’, ‘sacred’. Octavian, then, was thanked for his gift of peace by being called the Revered One, your Holiness, the Sacred One. The implication of that kind of name to the Roman mind was that Octavian was nothing less than a god; he was considered sacred, heralded as "god of gods". So it was that in the days of Caesar Octavian –he’s commonly called Caesar Augustus- the temple of Rome’s war god was closed, and a new altar was built in the city, an altar celebrating the peace brought about by Caesar Augustus. Here, congregation, is the beginning of Rome’s emperor worship.

No, this emperor worship did not mean that all the other gods of the empire had to be swept out, did not mean that there was only one god the people could serve. The emperor was quite content that the peoples of his realm worship any god they chose; no god was all wrong, no god was all right. But there was this exception: none should condemn the other for serving the god of his choice. None, then, should criticise sacrificing to the emperor either. Here was multiculturalism, under the central unifying figure of the emperor. It was this doctrine that cost numerous Christians their lives in the years that followed, for these Christians refused to agree that all religions were equal, refused to agree that within this principle the emperor should be revered as a god….

A god this Caesar Augustus was thought to be, the bringer of world peace. The result of that veneration for Octavian was that various other names were given to him too. He was called ‘lord’, he was called ‘messiah’, he was called ‘the saviour of the whole world.’ Indeed, in the Roman province of Asia Minor (present day Turkey) an inscription has been found containing these words: ‘the birthday of the god Augustus has marked the beginning of the good news for the world.’ Do not let that escape your attention, brothers and sisters: the names and attributes applied to this Caesar Augustus are the same names and attributes found in the Bible for Jesus Christ! Lord, messiah, saviour, god, even the concept of good news: when Luke’s readers read in chap 2 the name Caesar Augustus, it was of these things that the name reminded them.

There is another item that we are to know about Caesar Augustus. Luke records that "a decree went out" from this emperor, a decree concerning "all the world". This decree was not without punch; such was Caesar’s power that "all the world" responded to his decree, for (says Luke in vs 3) "all went up to be registered, everyone to his own city." In other words, peoples universally –in Spain and France and Italy and Greece and Egypt and Syria, etc- presented themselves for registration. And where persons anywhere in the world no longer lived in the town of their parentage, they packed their bags and travelled. For Caesar –that god in Rome- had spoken. Make no mistake, beloved of the Lord: Caesar had clout, he was sovereign over "all the world."

In Spain people dropped their tools and travelled. In Greece they did too. In Israel also. Yes, in Israel too. That nation of which God had said that they would be a blessing to other nations had no option but to present themselves for enrolment on Caesar’s registers. Israel had once been independent, free to come and go at will. In fact, God had once set this nation apart to be His special possession among all peoples, had granted them a unique identity as His own. More, God had promised to this nation that they would be the head of all nations, that peoples all over the world would come flocking to them (Dt 28). But behold that pathetic people today. In far off Rome a man speaks, a man acclaimed to be god, saviour of the world..., and God’s people Israel listen obediently, submissively; they pack their bags and walk.... Israel a special people, distinct from other nations?! Nothing of the sort; Israel is registered as every other nation in the Roman empire, just another people.... A blessing Israel is to be to the nations, the head to which others come flocking?! It’s a joke, a pitiful joke.... The god of Rome speaks, and the people of the God of Israel obey….

Even Joseph walks. Obediently he drops his hammer and chisel, and travels the distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Though his new wife is approaching nine months pregnant, he goes…, for the god of Rome has no sympathy.... Joseph walks, upon command. Joseph, "of the house and lineage of David," Joseph the heir to the throne of David, he walks because the king of Rome said so. He travels so that his name might be recorded alongside of thousands from his fellow Israelites, alongside of millions of other subjects to Rome. He travels so that his name might be recorded for the benefit of that god-king in Rome, that saviour of the world: "Joseph, of the lineage of David the ex-king of Israel, currently impoverished carpenter in Nazareth."

How far, beloved, how far had the people of Israel fallen! Of the glory of the house of David nothing, nothing was left. Caesar spoke, ‘and all went to be registered,’ including Joseph. Surely, God’s promises to Israel had come to nought….

Luke’s readers knew Caesar Augustus, knew also the Old Testament with its promises about the house of David and the people of Israel. These words of our text, then, spoke volumes to these believers of old; it told them that the people of the God of heaven and earth must walk because the god of Rome had issued a decree. This text told them of the triumph of Satan over God, the triumph of the seed of the serpent over the seed of the woman! We may read vs 1 and think nothing special of it; it’s just part of the Christmas story. But Luke’s first readers knew differently. They could read this as evidence that God’s promises for Israel had proven to be hollow…. Stronger than the God of Israel was that servant of Satan, the god of Rome….

2 Such is the message that Luke’s readers could pick up from Luke’s first words in chap 2. But see: the Lord would not have Luke’s readers to go home knowing only of the sovereignty of Caesar; the Lord would have Luke’s readers know also of the supremacy of Jesus Christ – second point.

As a result of Caesar’s decree, "Joseph … went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem." "So it was, while they were there, the days were completed for [Mary] to be delivered. And she brought forth her first born son", Jesus.

Was it chance, beloved of the Lord, that Jesus’ parents were in Bethlehem at the time of their baby’s birth? Think on it, congregation: were Joseph and Mary, together with the unborn Jesus, simply victims of circumstances so that Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem was nothing more than accident?

That, my brothers and sisters, cannot be. Why not? Some 700 years ago the God of Israel had Himself declared by the mouth of His prophet Micah that the Saviour would one day be born in Bethlehem (5:2; cf Mt 2:6). God had spoken, His word must come to pass, and lo, it did; Jesus was born in Bethlehem! Accident? Not so!

This is a point that Luke draws out. Notice how he begins vs 1. Luke makes a point of stating that Caesar’s decree went out at a specific time. Says Luke: "it came to pass in those days that a decree went out." In which days? That, congregation, can only be the days Luke had just been talking about. And which days had Luke just been talking about? The days of chap 1, the days when an angel came to Zechariah in the temple of Jerusalem to tell him that he and Elizabeth would have a child, a child who would prepare God’s people for the next step in God’s plan of salvation. These were also the days when that same angel went to Nazareth to speak to Mary and tell her that the power of the Most High would overshadow her so that she would fal1 pregnant and give birth to the Son of God. This is the time, in other words, of preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ. The time had fully come for Jesus to be born, and so God sets wheels in motion so that circumstances may also be right for the arrival of the Son of God in the flesh. "In those days," when God was making the final preparations for the coming of His Son, "in those days" this decree went out from that god in Rome, Caesar Augustus. God in heaven was active, preparing for His Son a forerunner in John the Baptist, preparing for His Son a mother and a father in Mary and Joseph. But God’s preparations did not stop there; God had said through the prophet Micah that the Child would be born in Bethlehem, and so God sees to it that Jesus’ designated parents would have to travel from their home in Nazareth all the way to the town of Bethlehem. And how does God ensure that Jesus’ designated parents are in Bethlehem at the time the baby is to be born? God, beloved, the God of heaven moves the heart of this god of Rome so that he issues a decree for universal registration. "In those days," when God was making final preparation for Jesus’ birth, "in those days … a decree went out from Caesar Augustus," a decree prompted by God Himself.

Do you see the order of things here, beloved? Caesar is acclaimed a god, and by his permission peoples in his realm may serve whomever they will –all gods are equal- provided they also acknowledge him. In the midst of this multiculturalism –where all religions and cultures are equal (and Rome’s, it’s understood, the most equal)- God Almighty moves the heart of the god called Caesar so that His Son might be born in Bethlehem. Here is glorious evidence of the superiority, of the supremacy of the God of heaven, God of gods, Lord of lords, King of kings.

Tell me, now, congregation what you think of this? Does it seem to you to be too stretched, too far-fetched to believe that God can touch the heart of the world’s strongest man and so prompt a census? Does it seem too stretched that God would cause men everywhere to drop the tools of their trades and their sacrifices to their gods in order to go to their home town for registration – because the Son of the God of gods must be born in Bethlehem? Tell me: what kind of God do you serve?? Make here no mistake: Caesar Augustus issued a decree for universal registration because your God wanted him to. And your God wanted this decree for universal registration because His Son had to be born in Bethlehem.

You see, brothers and sisters, Luke’s words in our text reflect a delightful humour. Caesar Augustus, god in Rome, issued a decree for universal registration, a decree that very much points up his sovereignty; he speaks, and all nations walk. But despite al1 his outward glamour, his glorious names, his presumed infinite power, he is but a puppet in the hands of the God Who sent His Son to earth to defeat the devil. The messiah of Rome, the so-called saviour of the world, the bringer of peace to the Roman empire, must issue a decree because God wishes the Messiah, the Saviour of the world to be born in that little town in some forgotten corner of Judea, that town otherwise known as the city of David! And none of the gods of this world can stop Him! Truly, He towers head and shoulders above the gods of men’s imagination.

So it is too, congregation, that Caesar’s decree for universal registration is nothing else than a prophecy, a prophecy of Christ’s coming victory on the cross. It may appear that Caesar Augustus had all power, was a god to be reckoned with. But it was not so at all; all the world must be mobilised in salute to that Child-to-be-born in Bethlehem. The worshipers of every god –it matters not which- must pause from their labours in recognition of the Son of God to be born in Bethlehem. No matter, then, which god Satan sets before the peoples of the world for their devotion and sacrifices, all are nothing before the God of gods; all must do the bidding of the one true God of heaven and earth. Here is spelled out that in any coming confrontation between Satan and the man Jesus, any confrontation between the Son of the only true God and the gods of this world, the victory must be with Jesus; from the word go, Satan and his idols hasn’t a ghost of a chance.

0 yes, on Calvary all indications were that Satan had gained the upper hand over the crucified Jesus. Darkness settled over the land, Christ was tormented, despised by disciples and persecutors alike; none moved to help Him, not even His Father in heaven. But He battled on His own, triumphed over darkness, triumphed over Satan, triumphed over sin and hell together, and so could cry out with a loud voice that all was finished; all the gods of this world together were no opposition to Him! In fact, precisely when Satan thought to have destroyed Jesus by means of the cross –0 glorious irony!- Jesus by means of that very cross destroyed Satan. That victory over Satan could not be different; already in Jesus’ infancy Satan and his princes had to serve Jesus’ coming.

The fact that Satan and his princes must serve the Son of the only true God remains true in the course of history as wel1. After His triumph on the cross, Christ ascended into heaven, received a seat at God’s right hand, was made King almighty, Prince of peace – God of gods, Lord of lords. His Holy Spirit had to be poured out, and again peoples from all over the world were mobilised to witness this outpouring of the Spirit; God ensured by means of the Passover feast that people were present in Jerusalem from Parthia, from Mesopotamia, from Cappadocia, from Egypt, from Rome. And they could be present –how come?- because God was pleased to use the Roman emperors to generate peace in the Empire; the different religions had to tolerate each other –multiculturalism!- so that there might be peace in the realm – and so the apostles could travel without great hindrance.

Nothing has changed. O yes, in the course of church history the western world gave up its gods; no longer do we serve the idols of our heathen fathers, gods as Thor and Woden and so many others. The western world embraced instead the one true God, and acknowledged Him alone. But that’s changed. The gods and the witches of our heathen ancestors, the gods and the spirits of the eastern world too – you may serve whom you will, and you may call the deity of your choice by whatever name you wish. To follow Confucius is fine, and to follow Bhuddha is fine also, and to adhere to the Muslim faith is acceptable too, you can even be a Christian – as long as you don’t insist that the Lord God of heaven is the only true God. All peoples the same, and all faiths the same – we can even celebrate Christmas together.

No, beloved of the God of heaven, nothing has changed. One God alone there is, and the gods of this world are so many pawns in His sovereign hands; the gods of this world must serve the growth of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Even the multiculturalism of our land and our society –though it be so great a threat to the truth of the gospel- cannot undermine the Lord’s church gathering work. The gods of this world –including Allah and Bhuddha and Confucius, including Ghia and Mammon and Sport also- are so many tools in the hands of the God of gods to gather from all lands and tribes and languages the church bought by the blood of the Son of God Most High. That’s to say: one God alone stands infinitely superior to the gods of this world, and this God is your Father-by-covenant.

In Perth Jesus is presented as celebrating His birthday with His friends, Confucius and Bhuddha and Mohammed, and the orthodox Jew also; that truss in Hay Street pays homage to the god of Multiculturalism. Meanwhile, we…, we broadcast into our community through Heritage FM that there is but one way to be reconciled to God, and that is through faith in the Son of God born in Bethlehem. And we busy ourselves with plans to call a missionary to beam the gospel into that land where millions of people have been raised to acknowledge Confucius or Bhuddha as god, where a billion people are told to pay homage to that god called the State; recall that Mao Tse-dong was deified. I tell you, congregation: if we were children of our times, we’d fold our plans to call a missionary, and we’d quit all efforts at proselytising, for all religions are equal and none is ultimately wrong and none ultimately right. But we, by God’s grace, are not children of our times; we by God’s grace may be children of the God of gods – who used that god called Caesar Augustus as a tool in His hands to bring Mary and Joseph to Bethelem. That’s why we’ll thankfully and eagerly give of ourselves and of all we have to serve the cause of the God of gods – and do what we can to bring the gospel of Jesus’ birth to those enslaved to gods of Satan’s imagination. Amen