The Faces of Christmas
The Face of Awe – The Shepherds
Luke 2:8-20
Video - Charlie Brown Christmas – Linus Explains Christmas
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Do you ever feel like Charlie Brown and forget about what Christmas is all about?
It isn’t all that hard to do, even for Christians.
I mean, there are so many things going on during this time of year;
Presents we have to buy
Cookies we have to make
Decorations we have to put up
With all the activity, it is easy to lose focus and perspective and to miss out on what this is all about.
Now there are many good things that go on from a human perspective.
Families get together
People are giving to one another
Friends and co-workers are gathering together at parties
These things are not bad at all. But when so much time is taken with
Pondering what to get
Preparing what to make
Purchasing the things you will give
We can easily become overwhelmed and unfocused and that is when we can lose our sense of Wonder and Awe of why it is we celebrate Christmas.
Christmas is a celebration about Jesus.
It is a celebration of
the Good News of Salvation through Jesus Christ and
the love He showed by leaving heaven to be born and live and die for us.
We should be awed at how much God loves us and how He demonstrated His love.
Series Introduction
This morning, we are starting a Christmas Series called the Faces of Christmas
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We are going to be examining some of the faces of those that were at the first Christmas and seek to learn some ways we might respond to the birth of the Savior this Christmas.
This morning, we are going to look into the Face of Awe
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as we examine the shepherds response to the Angels news about the birth of Christ so that we might be able to capture or recapture the sense of Awe that will cause us to respond and act like they did.
Turn with me to Luke 2:8-20
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We are going to read the account Linus read plus a little bit more. And even though this may be a familiar passage, it is my hope that we see it in a new way that will help us leave here with a new or renewed sense of Awe on our faces.
Luke 2:8-20
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Pray
I know that many of us have heard this story countless times, but let’s look a bit deeper and see if we can be awed again.
The first thing that we should be awed by is that
The Good News is for Everyone!
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Luke 2:10
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. NIV
I know we know this from an intellectual position.
But I really want you to consider this for a moment.
The shepherds were awed by what they heard from the angels.
And some might say that they should be awed. They were truly in need of this salvation.
You see shepherds in that day were not your clean cut type.
They were looked down on in society
They were viewed kind of like we might view a homeless person or a gypsy.
Some were even known to be thieves.
This news was good news to them because they knew they were in need.
They knew they had been given a gift they didn’t deserve.
“Bad” People
Now, maybe you are sitting here today and you have committed heinous crimes.
I want you to know that Christ’s birth into this world is good news for you.
There are some who have a hard time accepting that, but I tell you and the Bible tells you that Christ has come to forgive and call sinners to repentance and give eternal life to those who believe.
The gift of salvation is for everyone.
There are no unforgiveable sins except one and that is not believing the Holy Spirit as he leads you to Christ.
Yes the coming of Christ is good news for you, just as it was for the shepherds.
People “not so bad”
On the other hand, may be you are sitting here today and you haven’t really committed any heinous crimes in your past. Maybe you have, according to the world or in comparison to those around you, been pretty good.
That is great, but I think that for people in that situation it is sometimes easy to really not be awed by the fact that God entered this world in human flesh to save sinners.
Sinner is not the first word that may come to our minds when you think of yourselves.
I want to look at another story so that we might be able to see ourselves and still recognize our need and know that the good news for everyone is good news for the “not so bad” as well as the bad.
In Luke 7 we find Jesus having dinner with a man named Simon
Luke 7:37-39
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37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is — that she is a sinner."
I want to Pause here a moment. Do you hear what he says? He says this women is a sinner. What he means is that unlike me, this women is a sinner. And from a human standpoint she has probably done some pretty sinful things, probably even more than this Pharisee. But we have got to look at things from an eternal standpoint.
Let’s continue.
Luke 7:40-47
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40 Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."
"Tell me, teacher," he said.
41 "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
43 Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."
"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
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44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
It might be better stated that he who feels he has been forgiven little loves little.
Slide – It returns to main point.
We may feel this way because we make the wrong comparison.
We are comparing to someone else who in our eyes may have done worse things.
Righteousness = Water
Imagine for a moment if our righteousness was measured by water and this woman had only a dropper full of righteousness because of all her sin.
We however had a swimming pool of our own righteousness.
Compared to one another we are looking pretty good.
If entry into heaven were based on righteousness, which it is, we would be looking pretty good in this comparison. However when we compare our swimming pool of righteousness to what would be needed, the righteousness required would look like the Pacific Ocean. Then how does our swimming pool of righteousness look? It looks like a dropper.
We have got to recognize that pride, hate, lust, greed, gossip, and worry are sin and because of it, we are woefully inadequate for heaven. Just because we haven’t stolen or killed, doesn’t mean we don’t need a Savior.
We need a Savior.
Recognize your sin and realize your need and be awed by the fact that the Lord has loved you enough to provide good news for everyone, even you and me.
So that is the first thing we should be awed by. We have been given a gift so great and so undeserved that when we focus on it is should just blow us away.
Transition
But how do we respond to this realization?
The shepherds heard this message and recognized their need and were awed and
The Good News Drew them to Jesus
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Look what they do after the angels leave.
Luke 2:15-16
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
Now it is not like these shepherds had nothing better to do.
They had to keep watch over the flocks so that no predators would come and attack. They had things that needed to be done.
But they were moved by the good news that the angels announced and were drawn to go to Jesus. They responded to what they heard.
We may be awed by the Love God has shown us as we recognize our need, but we need to respond to that need by coming to Christ and receiving Him as our Savior.
The Bible clearly tells us that we need to receive this gift by believing with a heart belief.
A heart belief is not something that stays inside you. It affects you. It affects what you do.
When we recognize our need, we need to confess that belief of who Christ is and what He has done.
That is what Romans 10:9 says.
Romans 10:9 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. NIV
Do you recognize who Jesus is? That He is Lord, that He is God who put on flesh and was born into this world in a manger?
Do you know that He was born to die? He died for you, for your sins. He died to pay a price that you could never pay, no matter how good you have tried to be. You fall short and you fall very short.
There is good news today. That type of love that was shown should draw you to want to be with Him.
The Shepherds responded by going to Jesus.
Those who have never received Him
If you have never received Jesus and the holiday time of year is one that stresses you out maybe you just need to hit pause on what you are doing and come to Jesus just like the Shepherds did.
We are going to pause right here this morning and take a moment for those who may have heard the good news in the past, but have not responded to it.
Come to Jesus by professing your belief to God.
Confess with your mouth your belief in Jesus and what He has done, that He died for your sins and rose from the dead, and experience the Awe of Christmas.
Pray
Transition
Maybe, however, you are here today and you have received Christ and have experienced the Awe of Christmas in the past, but lately you have just been caught up in all the doings and have not really been experiencing much awe.
What is going on with that? How do we get that Face of Awe back?
Well, we need to do what the shepherds did.
They realized just how good this good news was and they knew that
The Good news is good enough to share
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Luke 2:17-20
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
That word amazed is “ethaumasan” and it means to wonder at or marvel.
As the shepherds were awed by the angels and the “good news” of God coming into this world to bring salvation, and as they told others, those others were amazed and awed by the good news as well.
And not only were the others awed, but the Shepherds continued to experience the awe of Christmas and it showed. The returned to their work “glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.”
I think that is part of the problem with Christians today is that we don’t share this incredible news with others like we should and it affects our own ability to continue in awe at what Christmas is all about.
When I am around a new believer, and get to experience their awe and excitement, it excites me and I am reminded again of the true gift we have been given.
Share the good news with your mouth
So I want to encourage you this Season as we gather with friends and family, to share the good news about Jesus with those the Lord has placed in your life. Tell them about Jesus and that they need to respond to this good news by believing and receiving. Invite them to church with you.
One of our Christmas Eve services would be an ideal time, because we are going to be finishing up this series talking about the Face of God as we look at Jesus and here about Him.
Another way to share the good news – Money (Living Water Int’l)
One other way that I want to encourage you to share the good news.
We need to share it with our mouths, but we also need to share it with our money.
This year again, we are going to be participating in Advent Conspiracy.
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Last year we collected $9000 toward our Christmas Offering and over $6000 went to Living Water International.
This year again, we are going to be giving 2/3’s of what we collect to Living Water International to help build wells in under resourced countries.
Dig wells? Really?
Yes, Really.
In our country, we so take for granted having a drink of water.
We can go to the sink or the water fountain and presto, clean water.
But in much of the under resourced world having water is a problem.
Someone in the family may have to walk several miles every day to go and get water. And they only have what they can carry.
Not only that, often times it is contaminated.
Water borne illnesses are the leading cause of death in under resourced countries.
Each year, 1.8 million people die from water borne illnesses.
Now, those kinds of numbers often don’t mean much to us.
Last year I tried to give some perspective to this and I want to use the same comparison, because I thought it was helpful.
Compare 9/11
Remember the horror of 9/11 where nearly 3,000 people died in one day?
Well, 1.8 million a year is nearly 5,000 people a day.
And even more tragic is that nearly 4,000 of those are children.
Imagine something worse than 9/11 happening every single day.
It is estimated that it would take about $10 to $15 billion in the hands of Christian organizations, not governments, where corruption and theft are rampant, to end the world’s water crisis.
While $10 to $15 billion seems like a lot, when you put it in the perspective that Americans’ spend over $400 billion on Christmas every year, it is not that much.
And when we are able to reach people with some of the most basic needs, we are able to share the gospel with them so they too can experience the Awe of Christmas and we can continue to experience it.
I want to show you a video clip of how Living Water International is having an effect not only in meeting basic human need of clean water, but being able to share the good news of Christ so others will also be able to have the Face of Awe as they experience the life giving message of Jesus Christ
Video
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2/3’s of what we collect in this special offering will go to Living water international to help provide clean water as well as the living water of Jesus.
The other third is going to stay here locally to help us continue to reach out to this community with the gospel message.
We will be talking more about this early next year, but as they begin construction of Rt. 30 next year, we are going to have to pay for a left turn lane into our property and move our entrance. At the same time, we are going to have to bring sewer and water over to be able to expand our parking lot.
Now, I personally could care less about parking in and of itself. Butwhen that additional parking means that we get to share the message of Christ with more people so they too can experience the Awe of Christmas, it is something that becomes an important life giving, awe experiencing tool.
So I would encourage you to think through your own giving and perhaps reprioritize so that Christ’s birthday is truly being celebrated and He is being glorified in the things we give this year.
Conclusion
I believe that as Christians share the good news of Christ not only with our mouths, but with our money, others will be able to see the Face of Awe on us.
Let’s pray
Worship team come up
When we have experienced the Awe of Christ, we saw the Shepherds respond with rejoicing and praising. When Christ works in our life, we just want to praise His name.
Well we want to close our service praising Him this morning for the Love He has shown and the work He is doing.
Stand and join with us as we worship by singing, “How can I keep from Singing”
