MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
TEXT: Luke 2:8-20
Listen to these words from the Gospel of Luke, chap. 2, beginning with vs. 8.
(Luke 28-18, 20) And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
"This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
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.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ... The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
I. OUR CHRISTMAS MEMORIES
A. I really like the Christmas season! For most of us it is a time filled with memories of childhood & home & loved ones. We almost feel like children again as we remember things they way they used to be.
It is a time of remembering those who are dear to us. We want to see them, talk with them, & be with them if possible. So as Christmas Day nears the highways will be crowded with cars, & airplanes will have every seat filled.
More phone calls will be made on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day than on almost any other day of the year. It is a time for remembering loved ones.
B. Many of us have loved ones who were once a vital part of our lives, & now they are gone. Because of that there will be feelings of loss & sorrow as we remember them.
But all in all, Christmas is a happy time. More than at any other time of the year we open our hearts, our lives, even our wallets, & give freely & generously of ourselves. No wonder our memories are so precious!
II. WHAT MANY HAVE FORGOTTEN
A. But it is also a time to remind ourselves of what many seem to have forgotten, & some have never even heard.
ILL. A few years ago a friend of mine went into a music store looking for the sheet music to "How Great Thou Art." He couldn't find it. In fact, he didn't find any religious sheet music there at all.
So he asked the clerk if they handled religious music, & the clerk answered, "Well, I'm not sure. Maybe some of the Christmas music is religious."
Think about it. "Maybe some of the Christmas music is religious." That is a rather sad remark, isn't it?
ILL. I think it is sad also that there is controversy about having manger scenes & Jesus included among all the other Christmas decorations in public places. It is all right to have Santa & reindeer & brightly lit trees, but nothing about Jesus.
ILL. Did you read about the elementary school principal in Omaha, Neb. who ruled out anything in her school that might suggest Christmas? She even prohibited the use of red & green crayons because they were "Christmas colors."
She also outlawed candy canes because if you turned one upside down it looked like the letter "J" & that might cause the children to think of Jesus.
ILL. Maybe we really ought to start handing out cards saying, "Remember, Jesus is the Reason for the Season."
B. Some have even forgotten Mary, selected from among all the people alive in that day to be the mother of the only begotten son of Almighty God. How precious she must have been in God's sight!
And Joseph! It was to Joseph that God sent an angel & to whom God revealed the danger they faced, & told him to take Jesus into Egypt to protect Him from those who sought to kill Him.
ILL. Have you heard about the young boy who was drawing pictures of Christmas? He drew pictures of the stable, the manger, the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the animals, shepherds, angels, the wise men - everything. He even drew a picture of an airplane.
When his teacher questioned him about the airplane, he said, "Oh, that's the flight to Egypt." And in the airplane he had included figures of 4 people - a man, a woman, & a child in the back seat, & one man up front.
The teacher asked who they were. "Well, in the back", he said, "that's Mary & Joseph & the baby Jesus." "All right", said the teacher, "But who is that up front?" "Oh," he said, "That's Pontius the pilot."
Well, we can leave Pontius Pilate out. He doesn't belong in the Christmas scene. But Jesus does. We must never forget the "Reason for the Season."
C. Oh yes, we need to remember the shepherds & angels, too. The shepherds were special. It was to shepherds that God first announced the birth of His Son in Bethlehem.
But why shepherds? It really doesn't make sense, humanly speaking. If we had been choosing we would have selected someone else, I'm sure.
Why didn't God go first to the rulers? Perhaps to Caesar's palace or maybe to the palace of Herod the Great? Think what an impressive appearance they would have made coming to visit the baby Jesus!
But on second thought, maybe they would not have responded so favorably. They would have had trouble with the fact that a king was born to a peasant girl. They would have had difficulty accepting the idea that a king was born in a stable & that his first bed was a feeding trough.
Or why didn't God send the angels to the religious leaders? Why not to the High Priest? Or the Sanhedrin - to the Pharisees & Sadducees there? They knew the prophecies about the Messiah. They even knew that he was to be born in Bethlehem.
But they would have had difficulty, too, if they had been the first to hear. You see, they expected the Messiah to be a mighty conqueror, a man of power. The idea of the Messiah coming as a baby, being born in a stable & lying in a manger just didn't fit.
D. God knows our hearts, so He passed up the politicians & the religious leaders & sent His angels to a group of shepherds who were watching their flock by night, faithfully performing their duties. He sent then to shepherds.
But, you know, the shepherds didn't have to wade through all the things that get in the way of our celebration of Christmas.
They didn't face traffic jams. They didn't have crowds in shopping centers. They didn't have to wait in lines to pay for their gifts. They didn't have a long list of Christmas cards to address.
God sent His angels to Shepherds! And oh, how I wish that we could join those shepherds & see it all through their eyes once again.
III. INTERFERING WITH OUR CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION
Our celebration of Christmas can seem to be so difficult. I think it gets harder almost every year because there are so many things that interfere.
ILL. If we were to rewrite the 2nd chapter of Luke today, & describe our modern celebration of Christmas, it might come out something like this:
"There once was a family abiding in their living room keeping watch over their Christmas stockings by night. And suddenly there appeared unto them Santa, & the glory of his red suit surrounded them & they were sore afraid.
"But Santa said to them, 'Fear not, for behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you in this day in Flint Ridge there shall be great feasting of turkey & mashed potatoes & candy & many presents.
“And this shall be a sign unto you, you shall find gifts wrapped in bright papers, lying beneath a tree adorned with tinsel & colored lights.'
"And suddenly there was with the family a multitude of friends & relatives, all praising Santa & saying, 'Glory to Santa & his reindeer, & on earth peace & good will toward men.'
"And it came to pass that when all the friends & relatives went back to their various homes that the family made haste to their medicine cabinets to grab their Rolaids.
“And after they had taken their Rolaids they said to one another, 'Let us now go & tell everyone this thing that has been revealed to us by Santa.' And all who heard the words wondered at the things that they were told."
Ridiculous, isn't it? And yet doesn't that fairly well describe the modern celebration of Christmas? Somehow, the simplicity of the good news to the angels has been lost.
As a result, there is often sadness & loneliness. There are more suicides in Dec. than any other month of the year. At a time when joy & peace ought to be so much a part of our lives many will not be celebrating at all.
ILL. A little boy was helping decorate for Christmas. Finally, it was all done, & the living room had been transformed into a winter wonderland of beauty, with a tinsel covered tree in its center.
The whole family just stood there, drinking in its beauty. The silence of the moment was broken as the little boy looked at it & asked, "What does Jesus have to do with all of this?"
Maybe that's a question that needs to be asked. Where does Jesus fit in? Who or what is the focus of our celebrations this Christmas season?
ILL. There once was a land where a little boy named Jason lived. It was a topsy turvy world where everything seemed to be turned around. In that world little boys played kneeball instead of football. In that world water froze in the summer - not in the winter; leaves grew on trees in winter, not in the summer.
Then in that land Jason's birthday came around. Grandma & Grandpa came but they didn't come to Jason's house. They went to someone else's house. Mother baked a cake but she didn't give it to Jason. She sent it to someone else.
When all the town learned that it was Jason's birthday they started sending cards to each other & buying gifts for one another. But no one sent cards or gifts to Jason.
Finally, in his frustration, Jason got on his bicycle & started riding up & down the streets shouting at the top of his voice, "Whose birthday is it, anyway? Just whose birthday is it?" And his words rang through the little town in the stillness of the night.
Whose birthday is it anyway? I pray that this Christmas you & I will open our eyes & see with the faith of the shepherds. I pray that we will hear the voice of the angels, & that we, too, will worship the Savior.
Once again we come to a manger in Bethlehem. Once again we think of the miraculous birth of the Lord of Lords & King of Kings.
I pray that we will wade through all the worries & heartaches that confront us, & realize that wrapped up in that little bundle of life, God is saying to us, "I love you with the greatest love of all."
May this Christmas be very special to you. May you recognize God's love, accept it, & enjoy it as the shepherds did so long ago. And after they saw what took place in Bethlehem they couldn't contain themselves. They had to tell everyone else about it, too.
And the joy that comes into our life because of Jesus should cause us also to share the joy that we have found.
This morning we extend His invitation. Whatever your decision, we pray that you will make it as we stand & sing.
INVITATION HYMN
