The Christmas Story

[00:00:00] Well, good morning. Good morning. Christ Church, it is good to see you. Merry Christmas Week. [00:00:07] Can you believe it? It's here. [00:00:11] I'm excited for it. I hope you got a lot of good plans. I hope you're ready to go. And I know for sure that you're planning on being here Christmas Eve, right? Amen. [00:00:22] Great time to bring someone with you, to bring some family and friends. I'm just gonna. Gonna share in, again, the most simple and clear way I can, what this all means, who Jesus is and what he's done for us. So they could be a great time to bring someone with you. But today we're gonna continue the Christmas story. But just before we do, would you bow your heads in prayer with me? [00:00:47] Father, thank you for this time. Thank you for what you've done for us. And, Lord, although there is so much to celebrate, our hearts can still be heavy in this season. And sometimes life can be even more stressful and painful than usual. [00:01:08] And so, Lord, in this paradox that we might find ourselves in, would you guide us toward the joy that can be found in you and the joy that can shape our lives today? [00:01:23] And as we go forward from here, so bless us, Lord. Open your word to us, speak to our hearts, and we ask all this in Jesus good name. Amen. Well, today I want to talk to you about the joy of Christmas. And I want to show you this picture here. [00:01:44] And it's kind of an unusual picture, but go with me on this. And I want you first to look at the woman on the left on this side. Yeah, I forgot that we're backwards. [00:01:58] Look at that woman, and then look at the center picture. And then when you look at her in the center, do you see. Does the center picture look like a younger woman? [00:02:08] Anybody? Anybody alive out there? [00:02:10] All right, now look at the woman on the other side for a second. And then look at the center. Do you see an old woman? Now, is this working? Yeah. [00:02:24] Isn't it kind of cool? So you look at one side, you see a young woman. You look at the other side, you see an older woman. It's kind of some little fancy trick there. And which is it? Is it a young woman? Is it an old woman? [00:02:39] Well, it kind of depends what you're looking at first. Right. [00:02:44] And then that shapes how you see it. Anybody's mind blown right now? Just. Yeah, okay. It's cool. [00:02:51] Well, the reason I show that to you, because I do think life is a lot about perspective. Have you found that to be true? Life is a lot about what you're Focusing on. Because what you're focusing on then begins to shape how you see everything else. I was just thinking late last week, I was starting to think about, you know, we got a lot of stuff going on here at the church for the Christmas season. And I was thinking about the sermons I gotta get done and the stuff I gotta. And I started to feel stressed about it. Cause I was like, we got a concert on Friday night. We've got a lot of stuff Saturday morning. We've got our food pantry. We've got. We've got winter wonderland today, man. We've got Christmas, Easter. And I was like. I was starting to feel a little bit overwhelmed by it all. But then the thought came. I was like, but what a beautiful thing, all this ministry that's happening right now. [00:03:48] What an awesome thing that we're doing all these things at the church and people are serving and people are reading, minister to. And then I felt really, really grateful. But what was it? It was just simply a change of focus. And I wanna talk about changing our focus today. And by looking at the joy that we can always move towards in this Christmas season because of what Christmas means and what it's all about, that when we focus on it and we try to understand it and connect to it, it can give us a joy that can help us then go out and face some maybe difficult or disappointing circumstances. It could give us a joy to give us some strength and endurance when we're stressed or in pain or overwhelmed. There's this rock solid joy of the season. And all through the scriptures, when we see Christmas talked about, it's always in the context of joy. So I wanna talk about access in that today. Anybody. Would it be okay if you leave here a little more joyful? Would you be okay with that? Or is anyone like, you know, I really wanna leave here a little more angry. Cause you come next week for that. No, I'm just kidding. [00:05:14] But let's talk about it. And we're gonna pick up right where we left off in Luke chapter two. So last week, Mary and Joseph give birth and Jesus is born. And he's in the manger again. A nice way of saying a feeding trough. [00:05:32] So very humble circumstances, very unusual circumstances. And then verse eight picks up right from that point. And here's what it says. It says, and in the same region were shepherds out in the field. You can't talk about the Christmas story without talking about shepherds. The shepherds were out in the field and they were keeping watch over their flock by night. [00:06:01] And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. So this was a terrifying and overwhelming experience for them. [00:06:17] And they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold. And then look at these words. I bring you good news of great joy. [00:06:34] See, that's the heart of the message of Christmas. It is good news of great joy. But then look at this for all the people. How beautiful is that. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Now, I just. I have to laugh at this part because, like, imagine like, the greatest light show and pyrotechnics you've ever seen. You know, imagine like some great concert or show you went to, and, like, things are firing off everywhere, laser lights. Like, I imagine that's kind of what the shepherds experienced here. Now, that could be my imagination, but, you know, I think it's right on here. And then the angel says, oh, and this glorious thing that will happen, here's the sign. It'll be this little baby in a feeding trough. Like, you know, you go from this majestic display to a very, very humble thing, isn't that. You don't care about that. I thought that was. I thought that's kind of neat. And I think it's kind of a good reminder that so many times God is in the ordinary moments of our life, we're looking for the light to blow up with pyrotex and all that. And God's like, no, I'm right here in the normal rhythms of your life if you're looking for me. But anyway, that's another sermon. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste, and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in their heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them. This is so powerful. And one of the reasons that this is a story of joy is because it's a story that invites all of us into it. Now we're so used to this. We're used to seeing nativity sets, right? And all the nativity sets, you've got the shepherds and the wise men and these people. And I've seen some nativity sets that have like a whole zoo to them. I'm not sure where that came from. But you know, I like the flair of it. [00:09:35] And we're used to this. But really, if you didn't know all that and if you weren't expecting all that, it is a strange turn to go from Mary and Joseph and all this. And then all of a sudden it's all about the shepherds. Like, who are these guys? [00:09:53] And what's really interesting is what we learn about shepherds during this time was that they were generally not the people you would want around newborn babies, nor were they the people that you would really want around your house or your stuff. In fact, shepherds kind of, they roamed a lot. They didn't really have a place to call home. And they were also known to sometimes acquire things that weren't theirs. [00:10:27] You get. It's kind of like, well, just put this under my cloak and just walk right away with my flock. Amen. There's a nice little lawn chair right there. [00:10:37] You know, they're kind of. When I think of the shepherds, I think about a certain family member that I have. [00:10:45] And if you're watching, I apologize in advance, but there was a. [00:10:54] My mom's cousin. So it was like my second cousin, third cousin. I don't know how that all works, but he was that to me. And he was, you know, he lived a rough life. He kind of was in and out of jail a little bit. And you know, when I met him, this was like, you know, probably the 90s or whatever. Like he was fully tatted up. But some of you remember back in the day, like tattoos were edgy. Now it's like if you don't have a bunch of tattoos, you don't love Jesus. But it wasn't like that back in the day. You remember that? It was like if you had a bunch of tattoos, you were like part of a biker gang or something. And this dude was tatted all up before that, you know, and he was in and out of jail, but he was nice and came over. And one day, I remember he came over to my parents house and he had this Massive Amish swing. [00:11:50] Like, imagine like, this big, like, beautiful, woodworked kind of Amish swing that was like a. Like a bench that swings. [00:12:03] I'm not a construction guy, Bob. [00:12:06] And, like, I'm guessing today if you were to go buy something like that, like, you're probably talking a couple grand. Like, they was big and nice. And he came and he brought it to my parents. And he's like, I got a gift for you. We're like, whoa. Like, that's really nice. [00:12:23] This seems a little bit odd. Cause I don't think you have any money, and that's gonna be kind of expensive. And so he said, well, what happened was I was driving down the highway, and I saw it fall off of someone's truck. And so I pulled over before they could get back. And I took it. Cause I thought you guys would like it. [00:12:45] And it was a true story. [00:12:52] And, I mean, I'm not a legal expert, but I'm pretty sure that's stealing in all 50 states, you know, and that's how we got that swing. So actually kind of forget what happened after that. My dad could probably. He might remember. But when I think about shepherds, I think about my cousin Billy. [00:13:17] That's who showed up. And then when I think about that, this all just looks real different to me. You know, they probably showed up with some gifts. Where did they get it? Don't ask. [00:13:29] But these were the type of people that you might expect a shepherd to be. Now, maybe that is just a gross mischaracterization. But that seems to be consistent with what we know now. Again, the shepherds, though, here's what's crazy. They play such a prominent role, even though they're not prominent people. [00:13:55] But what does that show us about God? Well, it shows us that he invites shepherds and thieves and broken people into his eternal purpose. [00:14:11] And today, what Christmas shows us, it is great joy for all people. Something that we see again and again is the humble circumstances and the humble people that surround this Christmas story. [00:14:28] And God invites each of us here today. [00:14:35] And I love that I find hope in God's grace that he would make them part of the story. And that he makes each of us part of the story. Now, the shepherds, as you can see, they're kind of just going about their ordinary day. And all the sudden, it's interrupted. [00:15:00] And part of what is so powerful about God working in our life is just like the shepherds. We all need God to break into our ordinary life. In other words, these shepherds, they weren't looking For Jesus. They weren't looking to figure out what was happening. They were just doing what they would normally do at night. They were watching their flock, and all of a sudden there's this. This divine interruption and God comes into their lives and everything changes. And I think that's something powerful to notice. In 1961, the Russians went out into space. And the Russian leader at the time, this was an atheist government. They were very anti religion and anti Christianity. And the leader of the government got up and he said, we. We went into space, and guess what? God was not there. [00:15:58] We didn't see him. And C.S. lewis, who is a great author, he was an Oxford professor, just this brilliant Christian mind. He wrote a story in response to this event happening. And in the story, he said that we cannot expect to find God like we would find the person that lives above us in a double or an apartment. You just go up the stairs, you're like, okay, there's Joe, you know, there's this person. He said, we cannot expect to find God that way. He said, the only way that God can be found is if God reveals himself to us. He said in the same way that in a Shakespeare play, the character in that play could only know Shakespeare if Shakespeare showed himself to the character. And I think that's something profound to think about. And I think what's amazing about Christmas is God is revealing himself to each and every one of us. And he's showing himself and he's showing what he's come to do and who he is. And Christmas is this revelation from God. And now I would just encourage you, if you're here and you're kind of, you know, you don't know if you believe in God. You're exploring faith, you're deciding what that all means in your life. I'm so glad you're here and honored that you would. You would do that here. But I would encourage you that if that's you, to say, God, show yourself to me. [00:17:47] Show me your reality. Show me you'd even pray this. Show me your glory, which is the core, the weight, the substance, the reality of who he is. Because I wanna know you, and I'm telling you God will show himself. He will break through, and he does it here for the shepherds. So the story of the shepherds and all this, it shows us that today God wants to speak and break through into each of our lives. And the shepherds come and they get this great message. And let's look at it one more time. [00:18:28] It says, hey, I bring you good news. Of great joy for all people. [00:18:36] Because there is a savior born who is Christ the Lord. Now, let me just break a couple of these things down about this message, because this is also part of the joy. The message is, number one, good news, friends. At the core of Christianity is good news. [00:19:00] The boss shows up, but it's good news. [00:19:05] Now, I know that might be different for us. Cause how many of us in our workplaces, if the boss shows up, it's bad news, or it's likely to be bad news. Or maybe you're the boss and you're like, oh, boy, here we go. And it just. It's a different deal. But think about this. That here is the. The Almighty God stepping into creation. And he could come in and he could say, you're all a bunch of losers. I'm done with you, and I'm starting over. And guess what? No one could argue with him. [00:19:41] You'd be perfectly right in that. But instead, what we see is he comes in and he says, I'm bringing good news, not just good advice. [00:19:57] Like, hey, do these things different. And, you know, it will all work out. Change this, change that. But no good news that is bigger than us. [00:20:07] When Allie and I were first married, I would come home after church, and we would always, like, eat lunch or just kind of, like, relax for a little bit. And for whatever reason, don't judge me. But there was always this show on TV called Bar Rescue. [00:20:23] And for whatever reason, we would watch it. Anybody seen this show? And, okay, good talking to the right crowd here. And the show is about this guy named John Taffer. He comes into these failing bars, and he tries to turn them around in, like, a couple days. And every show's the same. I mean, you know, and I'm sure there's a lot of acting and flair going on, but every show, he goes into this bar, and when he shows up, it is drama. [00:20:54] It's yelling, it's screaming, it's weeping. And he's just tearing into these people. Here's everything that's wrong with this place. Here's everything that's wrong with you. Here's all the things that are messed up. And if you don't get it right, you know, I'm out. And your bar's gonna shut down. And that's, like, the message. So the boss shows up, and everybody gets torn apart on national tv. I don't know why people sign up to be part of this, but, you know. Cause it's like, dude, have you seen any episode? They're all the same. You're gonna get ripped into and humiliated. And God could do that. [00:21:36] God could show up into your life and my life and be like, whoa, where do I start with you? Amen. [00:21:43] Do I have some honest people here today? And the Lord, he could just pick us apart. He could humiliate, he could do all of that. And again, he would be right. But here is what is so powerful about Christmas and about the message of Christianity is he comes in, he says, I have good news. I've come to save you. [00:22:07] Jesus Christ is a savior. I've come. And everything that's wrong, I'm not gonna put on you, I'm gonna put on myself. When I go to the cross and I die and I resurrect you with me on this church and, and I'm going to bring that saving work. Now what? The center of Christianity is a person, not a program. [00:22:37] Everything centers on Jesus Christ, who he is and what he's done. Now if you think about this, there's a lot of like, you know, we're getting close to January. Anybody like checking out a new diet or workout deal? Or do we maybe after this week, after Christmas we'll worry about that. But you know, we've all looked at them. Amen. [00:23:01] Many of us have attempted them. Amen. [00:23:04] Till about January 5th. [00:23:09] But you know, you look at a program and whether it's a diet or a workout, it's like all the programs will probably work if you do them right. Like if you do them, you work the program, it'll probably work. But what is always the problem that we fail the program? [00:23:31] Then we're like, eh, we'll just kinda do this a little bit. It'll take a couple days off. It turns into, or am I just preaching myself today? [00:23:41] And the program will work, but we can never work the now times that by infinity in your spiritual life, you and I can never work the program. But salvation is about a person. It's about being connected to Jesus Christ. It's about looking to him and saying, yes, I fail the program. I will fail the program. [00:24:07] You give me a million chances, I'll mess them all up. But my trust is in you and church. This is why it's good news of great joy for all people. [00:24:22] Because this is a message that anyone can receive, that every one of us can stop trusting in our own ability and trusting in Jesus Christ. And when we do that, everything begins. [00:24:39] He is the Savior who has come. And then we have the whole response to all of this. [00:24:48] Well, let me just say one more thing about the Message. [00:24:51] The angels say that this brings peace for the world. And I just want to remind you too, that Christ brings into each of our lives all the different kinds of peace that we need. See, we all need an inner peace. We need a peace that can relieve the guilt, the shame, the assault of our conscience. We need a peace that can come through the recognition of forgiveness of sins and God's cleansing work in us. And Christ brings that inner peace. Christ also brings relational peace in our lives that he helps us to forgive people. See, for some of us, part of moving towards the joy of Christmas is allowing God to help us to practice forgiveness this season, to let some things go, and to trust Christ's leadership in it. He also brings peace by helping us to reconcile, to rebuild, and to start fresh, and to help us to move in the right direction in those relationships. And he brings a peace that is bigger than our circumstances. If our peace is tied to. To what is happening around us, we will never have it for very long. [00:26:29] Well, I'm good. If everything is good. Well, you'll be good for about five seconds. Amen. Because life is challenging. Life is hard, life is painful. And you want to have a peace that can guard you like a fortress, even when things might be out of control around you. And in Christ, we have that. The Apostle Paul says, there is a peace that surpasses understanding that we can have only through Jesus Christ. It's like people look at you and they're like, well, how are you? Okay? This makes no sense, right? It doesn't. Except that Christ has given it to me. [00:27:15] It doesn't make any sense because this all isn't how it should be or how I wanted or how I thought. But I'm still okay because Christ is at work in me and church. This is good news for us today. This is good news. Some of us, we might need that today. We might need to move towards that peace. And Christ says, I've got it. I've come. It's here for you. [00:27:40] Move towards me. Now let's talk about the response. So the shepherds go, they tell Mary and Joseph what happened. Mary and Joseph hear this. And then Luke tells us, Mary does two things. She treasures up all these things and she ponders them in her heart. She treasures and she ponders. [00:28:05] And what Luke is doing is he's showing us this beautiful response to what God was doing in this story. And it's a response for us to learn from. Now let's talk about this idea of treasuring. [00:28:23] What do you treasure in your mind in other words, what do you give, like, priority to in your mind? [00:28:33] What type of thoughts just really, really stick? [00:28:40] Now, if I'm honest with you, the things that I tend to treasure in my mind, what I mean by that is they get the most airplay in my mind, are usually my thoughts of fear or anger or both like that. If I'm not careful, that's the default of my mind. I'm thinking about stuff I'm worried about. I'm thinking about stuff that made me mad or makes me mad. And. And so it's very easy for my mind not to treasure the things of God, but to treasure the things that are bothering me. Any other broken people I can talk to this morning feel the same way? [00:29:19] It's natural, right? You don't have to work hard to do that. You just let your mind go on autopilot, and that's where it goes. Now, here's what is so powerful about Mary. Here's what's so powerful about many of the giants in scripture. [00:29:38] And I could show this to you in the Psalms of David and the life of the apostle Paul. I could show this to you in some other places. But they do one thing different. [00:29:50] They make the practice of treasuring in their mind the things that God has done for them time. [00:30:01] So when their mind is running and the movie's playing, they put in a different vhs. Remember those? [00:30:13] And they. And they say, I'm gonna play in my mind the times that I prayed and God heard, the times where God spoke to my life through the scripture, through other people, the times. And I'm going to play. I'm going to recount the deeds and the works of God. I'm going to treasure them in my mind. And I'll tell you when we practice that it changes how we see our whole life. It gives us. It gives us a new frame by which to see everything. And church, I want to encourage you as we come to the end of this year, and would you take some. A few quiet moments and would you rehearse in your mind everything God has done for you? [00:31:07] And just let your mind just. Just put your mind. That. You're gonna have to put your mind there. It's gonna fight you on it. I know it's ugly, but that we're broken, it's gonna be like, no, no, no. I want to think about the browns. Don't think about that. [00:31:21] All your joy will soon be gone. [00:31:29] Put it in a better place. Church, you're gonna have to work to get there, but the work will be Worth it. She treasured. And that is one of the most powerful spiritual practices we can do. Man, God. And if you can't think of anything in your life, just go to the pages of Scripture and rehearse that. [00:31:48] I start thinking about that and thinking about that and treasuring it and treasuring it. And then Mary, she treasured these things and she pondered them. Now, these are two different words. Pondered means. Then she began to look at her life and sort of lay it all out. [00:32:07] She began to look at her life and kind of say, all right, let me look at these pieces. Let me compare them. Let me. Let me contrast them. And in other words, I think we could think about it, that she sort of did a life review and a life assessment. [00:32:24] If God is doing this in my life, what does this mean for my whole life? [00:32:30] What Mary was doing was she was thinking about her life from first. The calling and the purpose of God. And I love that. [00:32:43] And what a good time it would be for all of us to do that. See, what we tend to think about first is we think about what we want, what we have in mind, what we hope for. [00:32:55] But I think Mary does something better. She begins with thinking, okay, if God is at work in my life, then what does the rest of my life need to look like? [00:33:06] And church today? God is at work in your life, whether you know it or not. [00:33:11] God is inviting you into his purpose. God is real. God is at work. [00:33:17] And as soon as we take that to heart, our life will never look the same. [00:33:24] And our whole frame of reference begins with God. And every choice and every twist and every turn. We've gotta go back to that starting point. Where is God in all this? How is he leading me? What is he calling me to do? What honors him? [00:33:44] And when you ask yourselves those types of questions again and again and again, here's what God will do. He will make your path straight, and he will lead you into his joy. Here's the last response in this text. The shepherds return, but did you catch it? They return glorifying God. [00:34:11] Billy stole some stuff, but he went back a different man now. He was praising and honoring God. And if you're a follower of Jesus today, would you give God some glory in this season? [00:34:30] Would you honor him for what this all means? Would you thank him? Would you worship him? [00:34:38] Would you humble your life before him? And you know what's amazing about joy? Joy is never fully expressed until it's shared, right? You ever have something really cool in your life happen and you're Like, I'm just gonna keep that to myself. You can't do it. You're like, no, I gotta tell my friend. I gotta tell my spouse. I gotta tell someone, right? Something cool happens. What's your first impulse? Someone that you know and love, you've got to share it with. Amen. Cause the joy's not complete until you tell someone. [00:35:17] And church, the joy of this Christmas is not complete until you tell someone. If you're a follower of Jesus today, would you just open your heart and say, lord, help me to bring your goodness and your truth to someone else. [00:35:36] Bring someone with you Christmas Eve. Share the joy of what Christ is doing in you. The joy is never complete until it's shared. There's a great story by George MacDonald. He wrote these kind of fantasy Lord of the Rings style books. And it's a story called the Princess and the Goblin. And it's about this princess in this very dangerous world filled with goblins and things like that. But the princess has a grandmother who has this ability to make this special yarn. [00:36:10] And the grandmother gives it to the princess. The princess's name is Irene. And she says, I'm gonna give you this yarn. It will be on a ring. It. It's invisible. [00:36:19] No one can see it. [00:36:22] But when you're scared, put this yarn under your pillow and then follow it with your hand. You'll be able to feel it with your hand. No one will be able to see it, no one will be able to feel it, but you can feel it with your hand. And if you follow this yarn, it will take you to me and you'll be safe. [00:36:43] And every time you touch that yarn, you need to know I'm on the other end of it. I'm right there. And so Priscilla, she gets this special yarn and she gets scared and there's danger around her. And so she puts the ring under her pillow and she begins to feel it. And sure enough, no one can see it, no one can feel it, but she can. And she begins to follow it. Now, her grandmother also told her this. She said, hey, sometimes this yarn, it's gonna take you on a very unexpected path to me. [00:37:16] You're gonna go to places that you're not gonna expect, you're not gonna think are gonna take me to me, but you need to trust it, that it will bring you to me. And she starts to follow it. And sure enough, it begins to take her into this cave, into this scary, dangerous place. And she starts to waver. And she's like, okay, Grandma's lost it a Little bit. This isn't gonna get me there. And she tries to feel it backwards, but she can no longer feel it because the yarn can only be felt forwards. [00:37:51] And so she works up her trust and she begins to follow. And sure enough, it takes her into caves and danger and difficulty. But in all the danger and all the difficulty, there is a purpose. She helps people. She changes. And at the end of the yard, when she files it all the way back, it brings her to her grandmother, and she's safe. But she's not only safe, she's now a different person. And I love that image, because Christmas is like that yarn to us. [00:38:27] It's out. And all we need to do is keep whispering in our hearts, lord, lead me to your joy. [00:38:39] Lead me to your joy. And the Lord's gonna say, son, daughter, I will. But I want you to know you're gonna go through some dangerous places, and I'm gonna lead you in a very roundabout way at times, and it's not gonna make sense, but you need to. To keep moving forward, trusting me, because I am at the other end, and it will bring you to me. And today, church, the Lord is at the other end. He will lead you to himself. And would you just whisper in your hearts today, say, lord, I want to just follow this path of life to you, into your joy. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we love you. [00:39:28] Thank you, Lord, that you bring us good news of great joy for each and every one of us. [00:39:37] Father, although in so many ways we are not prominent, but you still give us this place of incredible grace and honor and privilege. [00:39:50] And, Lord, today we ask that you would just guide us to your joy. Not to the joy of circumstances and stuff and things that can pass away, but lead us into the joy of what you've done for us and who you are. Would you bless these good people? Would you bless us now? Would you, Lord, prepare our hearts for what you're doing and what you want to do this season. We ask this in Jesus good and perfect name, Amen.