Christmas Is For Losers

Intro.

Read Luke 2:1-20

Isn’t that a wonderful passage! Celebrating a baby born in a manger. The birth of Christ, the true meaning of Christmas! It leaves you with a nice, warm feeling on the inside. But the more that I read this story the more I am convinced of this one simple, yet profound truth: “CHRISTMAS IS FOR LOSERS”.

How many of you, have ever met a real loser! Well when I was in elementary school Wit Rudolph was that real loser at our school. He liked Lincoln Logs instead of He-man. He played hopscotch instead of kickball. He drank Carrot juice instead of soda. He had thick glasses and the thing that I remember most about Wit Rudolph was that he had the most hideous bright red Velcro shoes. The kid was a real loser! After elementary school Wit moved away and no one really knew that he was gone, and frankly no one really cared. The years went by and that would have been the end of it, but a change encounter changed my whole outlook! It was Christmas time and I was at a Candle light service, when a guy with yellow shoes, a goofy hairdo and thick glasses made his way to the front of the auditorium. My jaw almost hit the floor, when he introduced himself as Wit Rudolph. Wit shared with us that evening a powerful testimony about his life and how God through the birth of His son used weak, broken and sinful people to accomplish awesome things for his Kingdom! As I think about that story now, the thought that keeps creeping into my mind is that: Christmas is for Losers! The birth of Christ is for the weak, the broken, the sinful, for those who are going through the motions of their everyday lives without any sense of purpose, without any hope! Christmas is for losers! So how did I come to this simple, yet profound reality? I did it by looking at and understanding 3 principals!

I. THE MANGER

What do we know about the manger? It was dirty, it was in a barn, it was used as a trough where the animals would come to eat. It was certainly no place for a baby to born.

You’ve got to be kidding me. Surely this couldn’t be the best plan that God could have come up with right? Surely this wasn’t a well thought out plan right? This was a last minute thing right? Wrong! Going up a Christmas play that we put on had a song in it entitled: He was born to be a Shepherd. And in that song the first line said: “Long before the world began God devised a special plan to save the souls of every man, God would send His only Son!” Hey but that’s just a song, does the Bible have any passages that support the idea of this being a well thought out plan? If you have your Bibles turn to 1 Peter 1:17-20. Read 1 Peter 1:17-20. Did you catch it? He was chosen before the creation of the world, but has been revealed in the last times for your sake! The King of Kings, the Lord of lords, Emmanuel God with us, our Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End, our Savior, Messiah, Redeemer and Hope has been revealed in the last times for our sake! Because before time began, God knew you! He knew you before you were born, He knows the very hairs of head, He knows when you rise and when you sleep. He knows where you’re weak and when you stumble. He knows all this about you and still He loves us! He loves us so much that He would send His one and only Son to teach us one important point: That Christmas Is For Losers!

II. THE MISSION 1 Tim 1:15-16

With Christmas right around the corner, I’ve been on a secret mission. I’ve been trying to find the perfect gift for my wife Megan. Well finally I found it. I decided to take her to a Broadway Concert Show the day after Christmas in Indianapolis. I was so careful not to let the cat out of the bag. I made sure that the tickets were sent in a discreet envelope. I made all calls on my cell phone to avoid suspicion. Mission accomplished right? Wrong! You see the one thing that I forgot was that Megan controls the money and when she received the bank statement, my surprise was over! The mission of our Savior coming to earth was by no means a secret! The apostle Paul writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:15-16 pens these words: Read I Timothy* Did you catch the mission? Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners! While Jesus was on this earth He made the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, the mute speak and the dead live! John writes in his gospel that Jesus did so many things that if you were to write them down, all the books of the world wouldn’t have room for them! But let me suggest to you this morning, that Jesus did all those wonderful this not because they were His mission, but because He loved the people so much and He had compassion on them! He took the Losers of His time and made them whole again! This morning the mission is still the same! Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came to save the Preachers and prostitutes, the Doctors and Drug Dealers, the Athletes and the Addicts, the Teachers and Terrorists, Mothers and Murderers. In Romans 6:23 we find these words “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”! That why the birth of Christ is for Losers! Because all have sinned and have fallen short of His glory! The Mission of Jesus: Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners!