“SHOPPING FOR A SAVIOR”
SERMON #3: “IT DOESN’T SEEM LIKE CHRISTMAS”
LUKE 2:8-20
President John F. Kennedy’s goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the 60’s decade launched the space program and our imaginations. Everyone seemed caught up in the hope and the reality of human beings transported through space to walk on the surface of the moon. When that day came, most every American watched in awe and fascination. But as with any feat, no matter how significant, the admiration disappeared and the attraction was no more. Sadly such has become the case for some people with Christmas.
Each year I hear people say, “It doesn’t seem like Christmas!” I’ve even heard people say “If I hear one more person wish me a “Happy Holiday or Merry Christmas!” I think I will just burst!” How often have you heard that over the last few Christmas’ or over the course of the last several weeks? How often have you and I said that? Sadly, I’ve come to notice that many Christians have a bah humbug type attitude and they are just fed up with Christmas. I’ve heard Christians say how much they’re going to dread Christmas because of all the parties, all the shopping, the traveling, getting together with family, and all the cooking. It’s as if these people begin to cringe from the Friday after Thanksgiving until New Year’s Day. Some have even gone so far as to say that they dread the entire five weeks of it and look forward to the day the tree comes down and the decorations go back into the box. The question is why? Why do we dread Christmas? The reason some of us dread Christmas is because we have taken the true meaning away from Christmas. It’s like the story I read this past week that spoke of two women who were having lunch in an elegant hotel and they were approached by a mutual friend who asked them what the occasion was for the meal. One lady replied, “We are celebrating the birth of my baby boy.” The friend asked, “But where is he?” “Oh,” said the mother, “you didn’t think I’d bring him with me, did you?” What a picture of the way the world treats Jesus at Christmas. You see the reason some of us dread Christmas so much is because we have made Christmas about shopping, parties, presents, and Santa Clause and we have completely taken the Christ out of Christmas.
Now church that’s a scary thought to think of Christians who are fed up with Christmas! Now isn’t that an odd-sounding thought. Yet, there are more and more of us each year that are pushing Christmas farther and farther away from ourselves and our families. Why? Why are we pushing Jesus farther and farther away? Church I believe it’s because we as Christians have lost the wonder of Christmas. We have lost the awe of Christmas. Nothing amazes us anymore and it’s because we can send men in space ships to the moon, it’s because we have the Internet, microchips, modern medicine—and these are all wonders—that even our grandparents could not have foretold; yet we have become a generation characterized not by awe, but by doubt and mockery. We live in a day of technological, medical, and military advancement yet we take it for granted. We have lost something. Something powerful. Something needed. Something to reawaken our souls. We have lost the wonder of Christmas and it’s time that we get it back.
Read Luke 2:8-20
1. LOST WONDER.
Even at Christmas. If we aren’t careful we become too stressed, too much of a scrooge, more concerned about counting dollars and counting calories and miss the magic. If we aren’t careful we will reduce Christmas to little more than an elaborate fable. And, in an effort to be politically correct we will write Jesus out of the story. We will secularize the holy day to the point that someone who has never heard of Christ or Christmas couldn’t get the message even if they tried. Pretty soon all people will say what too many people are saying now, “It doesn’t seem like Christmas.”
Why does it not seem like Christmas? Is it because of the rat race, the obligations, and the adult responsibilities? Is it because the newness and freshness has worn off? Is it because there is no mystery, no magic? Is it because the light has dimmed and the music has faded? I would invite you to see Christmas through the eyes of a child this season. Look at Christmas again, as though you are seeing it for the first time. See the lights and the decorations anew. Hear the music, the sounds, and the carols afresh. Tell the story of Jesus’ magnificent birth like it is the first time you have told it. Let this Christmas reawaken your wonder.
2. THE WONDER OF THE FIRST CHRISTMAS.
The first Christmas was filled with wonder—full of surprises and unexpected twists and turns. The unexpected and the extraordinary were the norm. Think with me about the astonishing events that unfolded. Joseph chose to stay with his fiancé, who is pregnant with a child that is not his. Who would have faulted him, if he had divorced her? Sound strange to you? Mary, the fiancé, was pregnant; but she was a virgin. Do you understand the meaning of that statement? Mary had a child in her womb but had never had sexual relations. Do you see the fascination in that event? Mary gave birth to a child. Of all the earth’s events, none is more wonder-filled than birth. It’s enough to make grown men weep uncontrollably, if not outright pass out. Then there was the baby itself. The innocence and dependency of a new life strikes our emotions like nothing else. Babies make perfectly mature adults say the silliest things and perform most unusual of antics. Then, angels visited shepherds. Heavenly beings descended on the scene of mere mortals to make a divine announcement. What’s that about? Next, shepherds dropped everything to check out the news of a baby born to a virgin in a lowly manger who claimed to be God. Get real. Finally, God came to earth as a human being. Divinity among humanity. Does that not blow your mind?
Is there any wonder that upon witnessing these unusual events that the shepherds can’t stop talking about it? Notice what Luke penned: “After seeing them, they reported the message they were told them about this child” (Luke 2:17 HCSB). They picked up where the angels had left off. Wouldn’t you have done the same thing? Don’t we talk about pregnancies out of wedlock? Babies being born? Encounters with heavenly beings? They spoke to every one of the events they had just witnessed. It was too fascinating to keep to themselves.
And how did the recipients respond? It’s found in Luke 2:18. Let’s see how the Bible translations of that verse recorded their reactions:
“And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them” (Luke 2:18 HCSB). “All who heard the sheepherders were impressed” (Luke 2:18 The Message). “And all who heard were astonished at what the shepherds said” (Luke 2:18 NEB). “And all who heard it were astounded at what was told them by the shepherds” (Luke 2:18 Williams). “And everybody was surprised to hear the story the shepherds told us” (Luke 2:18 Beck). “And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds” (Luke 2:18 NASB). And my favorite, “All who heard it were filled with wonder at what the shepherds told them” (Luke 2:18 TEV).
For all who witnessed it, their eyes were filled with light, their mouths wide open, and their faces lit by the inner glow of sheer wonder. Their wonder should be no surprise to us because their dark world had been transcended with the brilliance of eternal light. Their silent night had been split with the glorious presence of God. The world of man had been invaded by the Word of God. All the hopes of all the ages had been fulfilled in this one spectacular night, yet it happened so differently from what man had expected. It was the surprise of all surprises. It was wonderful and wonder-filled.
3. REAWAKEN YOUR WONDER.
Would you like to experience the wonder? Would you like for your wonder to be reawakened? What happened to the first witnesses of Christ’s birth can happen to you.
A. WONDER BEGINS IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
The shepherds had seen God. They had been in the very presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Yes, he was a helpless and dependent infant, but he was the incarnation of God. They had seen the light, felt the glow, heard the sounds. The wonder of God had penetrated to the core of their being.
We need to see what they saw. We need to feel what they felt. We need to hear what they heard. The light, the vibrations, the sounds need to penetrate us. How do we revive this sense of wonder? We revive it by putting ourselves in the presence of God and not just at this time of year but everyday. You see wonder begins in the presence of God. Regardless of our characteristics or status or age, when the Lord is present, that place is alive with wonder. If we want to reawaken our wonder when it comes to God the Almighty it is absolutely necessary to place ourselves in the presence of God. And when you and I truly put ourselves in His presence we will not be able to help but be amazed, in awe and in wonder of Him.
B. WONDER LEADS TO THE WORSHIP OF GOD.
The shepherds saw, heard, and felt God. They were in his very presence. And what did they do? “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard, just as they had been told” (Luke 2:20 HCSB). Seeing the wonder of God led to their worship of God. They discovered God then delighted in God. You see church when our wonder about God is finally reawaken you and I will not be able to help but bow down and worship Him. To bow down and truly and wholeheartedly worship God.
Wonder is the basis of worship. One can’t come face to face with the wonder of God and not worship him. Not only is it an absurdity; it’s an impossibility.
Just ask Moses after encountering God on Mount Sinai, or Elijah after witnessing the presence of God on Mount Carmel, or Isaiah after his vision of God in the temple, or the shepherds after seeing Jesus in the manger.
At Christmas we meet the wonder of God. But we can’t stay there. Christmas is a good beginning. But at some point we have to get Jesus out of the cradle and into our hearts. We have to go from thinking about a baby and understand that he is God who came wrapped in human flesh. We have to move from wonder to worship. We have to move beyond doubt and disbelief to celebration and salvation. The story about a child being born is true and it is wonderful, but we have to go beyond being charmed by it and be changed by it. We have to see beyond the tradition of men and be transformed by the might of God. We have to go beyond the admiration of a child to the adoration of a Savior. We do not truly understand Christmas until we find ourselves on our knees in worship.
4. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
I want you to take a deep breath and remember what it was like to be a child with eyes wide open, taking in something greater and more wonderful than any sight you had seen before. What was it for you? Christmas morning at age five? An electric train that filled the room? Seeing the ocean or the Grand Canyon for the first time? Realizing that Jesus paid for all your sins and offers forgiveness free of charge?
In Chicken Soup for the Soul Dan Millman tells the story of Sachi. When she was four years old her baby brother was born. Little Sachi began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. They worried that, like most four-year-olds, she might feel jealous and want to hit or shake him, so they said no.
Over time, though, since Sachi wasn’t showing signs of jealousy, they changed their minds and decided to let Sachi have her private conference with the baby. Elated, Sachi went into the baby’s room and shut the door, but it opened a crack—enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen. They saw little Sachi walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his, and say, “Baby, tell me what God feels like. I’m starting to forget.”
Christmas should be the time we snuggle up close to God to see, to feel, and to hear God once again. It is the time to be reminded of God’s presence among us. We celebrate Christmas so we won’t forget the wonder of God.
Does your wonder need reawakened? Do you need to see Christmas again for the first time through the eyes of a child? Open your eyes - see the light. Open your heart - feel the emotions. Open your mind - understand the meaning. Open your ears and hear the mighty, awesome, powerful message of God. Let God’s message pierce the darkness of your life to give new life to your soul. See the wonder of it all. Be amazed by Him and be in awe of Him.
The Lord Jesus Christ whom we exalt at Christmas is not just a baby in a manger. He is not a character in a children’s story. He is far more than that. The first time he came, he came veiled in the form of a child. The next time He comes, and we believe it will be soon, He will come unveiled, and it will be abundantly and immediately clear to all the world just who He really is. The first time He came, a star marked his arrival. The next time He comes, the whole heavens will roll up like a scroll, and all the stars will fall out of the sky, and He himself will light it. The first time He came, wise men and shepherds brought Him gifts. The next time He comes, He will bring gifts, rewards for His own. The first time He came, there was no room for Him. The next time he comes, the whole world will not be able to contain His glory. The first time He came, only a few attended His arrival – some shepherds and some wise men. The Next time He comes, every eye shall see Him. The first time He came as a baby. Soon He will come as sovereign King and Lord.
“SHOPPING FOR A SAVIOR”
SERMON #3: “IT DOESN’T SEEM LIKE CHRISTMAS”
LUKE 2:8-20
1. LOST ___________.
2. THE WONDER OF THE ________ ____________.
3. _______________ YOUR WONDER.
A. WONDER BEGINS IN THE _______________ OF GOD.
B. WONDER LEADS TO THE _______________ OF GOD.
4. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
