Let Us Rejoice, For He Has Come Series

Title: Let Us Rejoice, For He Has Come 12/23/01

West Side

Text: Luke 2:8-14 A.M. Service

Purpose: Christmas Sunday sermon dealing with the idea of worship.

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Introduction: Christmas

Robert Fulghum in It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It, tells a story involving his daughter, Molly. One day, as Fulghum was ready to leave for work, Molly handed him two brown paper sacks. In one was his lunch. What was in the other was a mystery. When Fulghum asked Molly what was in the mystery bag, she said, "Just some stuff—take it with you." At lunch time, Fulghum tore open the mystery bag, Dumping the contents onto his desk. The contents

consisted of: two hair ribbons, three small stones, a plastic dinosaur, a pencil stub, a tiny seashell, two animal crackers, a marble, a used

lipstick, a small doll, two chocolate kisses, and thirteen pennies.

Later in the day, when Fulghum was cleaning off his desk before going home, he wiped the contents of Molly’s bag into the waste basket. As he said, "There wasn’t anything in there I needed." That evening Molly asked where her bag was. He told her he had left it at his office, and asked, "why?" Molly said, "Those are my things in the sack, Daddy, the ones I really like—I thought you might like to play with them, but now I want them back.

You didn’t lose the bag did you, Daddy?"

"Those are my things in the sack, Daddy, the ones I really like." To Fulghum the hair ribbons, small stones, pencil stub, a used lipstick and all the rest did not seem like much. To Molly, they were her most priceless treasures. The things she loved the most. But Fulghum did not have the sight to see their true value.

Long ago some shepherds left their fields and made their way to a stable. When they looked into the manger they saw a very ordinary baby wrapped in swaddling cloths. Whether the baby was sleeping, crying, or cooing, we are not told. But the shepherds saw something more, something which others who were gathered with Mary and Joseph apparently did not see. In this baby in the manger the shepherds saw none other than the One in whom all God’s people find joy and peace, just as the angels had told them. The shepherds had heard the promise, had believed the promise, and in believing saw more than met the ordinary eye. In Jesus they saw the One in whom we have joy and peace.

This morning, I’d like for us to focus on this concept: “Let us rejoice, for He has come.”

Read Text: Luke 2:8-14

I. We Need Not Be Afraid, For He Has Come

There is a line in the movie, “Field of Dreams” when the man contemplating about what to do. Build this new baseball field in the middle of corn country, or sell the corn field to pay off debts. During that moment, James Earl Jones stands and gives this impassioned speech about why it is necessary to build this field, basically saying, if you build it, they will come.

In some ways, that thinking has gotten us in trouble. Meaning we’ve taken that premise and expanded it. If I have the right job, or the right income, or the right spouse, or if I could just make it so that life would all work together, then I would not need to be afraid.

Recent events, including September 11, have shattered thinking, as we watched the twin towers crumble. Symbols of America’s strength crumbled to earth.

In a post modern kind of world, where absolutes have been challenged, and uncertainty on just about every level of life, national, foreign, locally with layoffs, and even violence in the very home land of our Lord, we need not be afraid, for He has come.

That night, an angel appeared to some shepherds who were watching their flocks. Listen to what the Angel said.

A. Do not be afraid: Why? Well, in verse 9 it says that they were out watching their flocks, when suddenly, the angel appeared.

B. That can be a little unsettling, especially during that day and age.

The other day, while returning from making a hospital call, I approached two vehicles. One was moving into a turning lane, but hadn’t moved all the way over, and the other began to stop just past there to make a left hand turn. It was early, and I was watching the car moving into the lane, and didn’t see the other vehicle stopped. I quickly reacted stepping on my breaks. It startled me, even though I wasn’t even close to the other vehicle. But for the next few moments, my heart raced as I made my way to the office.