如何有个平安夜 How to Have a Silent Night

Title: How to have a Silent Night
Date: 23rd Dec 2023
Preacher: Rev. Wong Siow Hwee

Good evening, beloved community. My sermon title for tonight is How to have a Silent Night. It should have been a really short sermon, because it just involves 2 simple steps. Step 1: kick your snoring spouse out of the bedroom and lock the door. Step 2: proceed to enjoy your Silent Night.

All jokes aside, tonight, I invite you to explore the theme of finding peace in the midst of life's storms, as we navigate the challenges of sleepless nights and turbulent times. The reason for choosing this title lies in the shared experience of restless nights, a sentiment echoed in a recent conversation with a fellow pastor. He confided in me about the sleepless nights induced by concerns for his church and the broader uncertainties of our world. As we reflect on the challenges of 2023 and anticipate the unknowns of 2024, we yearn for peace and rest amidst the tumultuous waves. In the sanctuary of this candlelit service, let us find comfort and solace. Even when worries threaten to confine us, may our faith in Jesus Christ bring hope and ease, leading us to discover the art of having a silent night.

Psalm 4: 1 Answer me when I call to you,
God of my righteousness.
Give me relief from my distress;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
2 How long will you people turn my glorious (God) into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
3 Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
4 Tremble and do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
5 Offer the sacrifices of the righteous
and trust in the Lord.
6 Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?”
Let the light of your face shine on us.
7 Fill my heart with joy
when their grain and new wine abound.
8 In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety.

Our guiding text for this evening is Psalm 4, penned by the man of faith, King David. Chosen for this Christmas Eve, this psalm resonates with our longing for peaceful nights. David, too, faced sleepless nights, haunted by enemies, including those from his own family – his father-in-law King Saul and his most promising son Absalom. Imagine the heartache and frustration; yet, David declared, "In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety" (Psalm 4:8).

As we delve into David's bedtime prayer, Psalm 4, we find a profound assurance rooted in his counsel to his enemies. These adversaries sought prosperity outside God's guidance. Herein lies their biggest problem. When humanity does not seek goodness based on God’s words, but through our own ways and means, that’s when the world turns towards chaos and void. David implored them to return to God, cautioning against the pursuit of false securities. His words echo the age-old struggle, where humanity, like in the garden of Eden, do not treasure the goodness of God, but instead we covet what we see as good. We reject God and chase after false securities like fame, power, and earthly treasures. The original word for “false gods” means literally emptiness. It is a good reminder from Ecclesiastes, that a lot of times, we may be chasing after the wind for our trivial pursuits. Yet, we end up with emptiness, because even if we gain the world, so what if we lost our very lives.

"Return to God," David beseeched. "Tremble and do not sin; when on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord" (Psalm 4:4-5). These nightly devotions before the one true God that David is advocating to his enemies, would also guide us to lay bare our emotions before God. When we do so, we come to see that we are totally transparent before God. There’s nothing we can hide from him: our shameful and selfish desires, our faults and transgressions, our pain and sorrow, and our helplessness and weaknesses. Here, we find divine-human encounters where two crucial realizations unfold.

First realization: we recognize our complete dependence on God's grace. David, acknowledging his righteousness, still pleaded, "Have mercy on me and hear my prayer" (Psalm 4:1). Our righteousness means nothing without the pure mercy of God. Maybe some of us feel "心安理得" – peace in your heart from feeling justified- enough to yourself. But really, how much of that is really just self-justification? But if you are as honest with yourself as David is in his nightly prayers, then you will seek the true 心安理得: whereby the justification cannot be derived from self-righteousness, it must come from God: divine justification.

Second realization: when we learn we are only truly justified by God’s grace, then freely receive, we also freely give. This means that we learn to seek not only our good but also the good of others. The grace of God should not only be for our good, but it should be the good of even our enemies. As David interceded to God every night, "Let the light of your face shine on us," he wished God's mercy upon himself and his enemies alike.

This second realization is in accordance to the apostle Paul’s interpretation of verse 4 in Ephesians 4: 26 “In your anger do not sin”. One can imagine how sometimes when thinking about the people who have wronged us, the stirred emotions can make our bodies tremble in rage. But instead of plotting and scheming our revenge, we should put ourselves before God. In these moments of divine-human encounter, we acknowledge of God's grace and seeking the same for others. In this way, when people sin against us, we do not sin in return. Instead, we seek forgiveness and reconciliation for all, so that all sin can be resolved by the grace of God.

No wonder the scriptures described David as a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). He did not have riches like Solomon, or even unbloodied hands like many of us. But he is truly honest with God. And he allows God to be God of his life. That’s how he deals with all his affairs, including his conflicts and grievances. He had no less worries and concerns than any of us, but he had learned to humbly summit them to God, and to live by faith. In the process of these nightly devotions, through habitual acknowledgement of God’s grace and repeatedly seeking the good of others, he learned to trust and be contented. Brothers and sisters, are you also a man after God’s heart? Do you also have ,not the self-justified心安理得, but the true divine-justified 心安理得 to have a silent night?

Allow me to share a story of someone who found the secret of how to have a silent night. When we think about a silent night, our first thoughts would surely link to the calming Christmas carol: Silent Night. [1] Consider the story of Father Joseph Mohr, who wrote the hymn "Silent Night." Born during the precursors of the Napoleonic Wars, you can imagine growing up with more than 20 years of non-stop conflict and violence. One night, on Christmas eve, he hoped to bring some music to the church he was ministering to, a church which had just been destroyed by a recent river flood, most likely including its organ. [2] He had some lyrics that he had recently written in his reflection of Christmas, and the tune had to be intentionally kept simple for just a guitar accompaniment. Yet, despite experiencing all the recent troubles, I hope you can see how Mohr captured the essence of heavenly peace in the midst of earthly turmoil. As we also envision the troubles of 2023, may we be reminded of the faith that had guided Mohr is that same faith that we share.

[Verse 1]
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

[Verse 2]
Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia
Christ the Savior is born
Christ the Savior is born

[Verse 3]
Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth

As Mohr wrote his lyrics, he had just witnessed the fall of Napolean who tried in vain to conquer Europe. The pride of man to seek his own good only brought tragedy upon others, including himself. Peace can never be found if it is sought based on the destruction of others. Today, war rages on in Europe and the Middle East. All sides of the conflicts claimed to fight in the name of national security. But yet all that was accomplished were the sleepless nights of innocent victims of their ambition. In the lyrics of Silent Night, I can sense the peace that Mohr had found. It is peace from the declaration that Jesus is the Lord and Savior, and there is no other. It is peace that God has come amidst humanity, because it is only by divine grace, that all the sins of this world can be resolved once and for all.

Earlier I had spoken about how David was able to have a silent night. Then I just shared on Mohr’s reflection of a Silent Night through his hymn. If you ask me, I would say that Mohr’s conviction is surely stronger than David’s, because just like us, he knew Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 11:39-40) David prayed without a full answer to his prayers. We can say that he had his silent nights by faith. But Mohr’s reflection and our prayers are answered in Jesus Christ. Our silent nights come with the full assurance of fulfillment because Jesus Christ has come. He is Immanuel, the confirmation of God with us (Matt 1:23). Christmas is when the angels declared in Luke 2: 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” We know that is the truth, because the Prince of Peace has come. He has come to be our Lord and Savior. David was never a perfect king. But now we have the King of kings, and Lord of lords to bring justice to all mankind.

In Psalm 4, David shared with his people, including his enemies, how to have a silent night. It is such a simple prayer to ask God: 7 Fill my heart with joy. 8 In peace I will lie down and sleep. Tonight, we celebrate the Joy to the World. We celebrate the true peace that the world can never give (John 14:27). Because if you ask me why was Jesus sent by God into the world? Why was Jesus born? The answer is because of God’s grace to our earnest prayers over the centuries for silent nights to all. Let’s reflect upon ourselves: What good do we really want? The world influences us to want many things. But I believe, at the end of the day, especially when as we toss and turn in bed, we yearn after the divine joy and peace in our hearts. Jesus is the answer to our prayers.

Brothers and sisters, few of us have the power to change the course of history. But that doesn’t mean we cannot do something about our lives. As we approach the end of the year, ask yourselves as David has asked in Psalm 4: What does seeking God's "favor" mean to you, especially on this holy night of Christ's birth? How can you seek God's favor in your life in the coming year? What resolutions or commitments can you make for the coming year to deepen your relationship with God, live a life of righteousness and integrity, and seek His guidance in all aspects of your life?

A silent night means turning to God as a source of peace and rest. Jesus is our solace in the midst of external pressures and personal worries. In a world marked by conflict and division, we are reminded not to sin. It is possible to address issues or express indignation while avoiding harmful actions or responses. We learn to trust in God’s timing, and his judgment of our righteousness. In an age marked by materialism and consumerism, we should find joy and contentment in God's presence rather than in material wealth. In a Singaporean society of endless complaints, we stop blaming others, but learn to reflect nightly on our personal responsibility and accountability in the face of adversity, and to seek God’s strength for personal growth and transformation. May God’s love be upon us, and bring us all a silent night every night.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night
[2]https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/silent-night-celebrates-its-bicentennial-180971044/

Candlelight Service video Link:https://youtu.be/9WOi2lJ24sA?si=O-e0CLajdjlPg2pN