OPEN: (I began the sermon by bringing out a gaily wrapped golf bag, complete with clubs & irons - I tried hard to make sure it was fairly obvious what was wrapped)Then I asked:
“Does anybody know what’s in the package?” The audience seemed to enjoy the humor of the obvious.
Then I gave this opening comment:
In his book "Dare to Believe", Dan Baumann explained that at Christmas time he would always do a lot of snooping, trying to find the gift - wrapped presents and figure out what was in them. One year he discovered a package with his name on it that was easy to identify. There was no way to disguise the golf clubs inside.
Baumann then made this observation: "When Mom wasn’t around, I would go and feel the package, shake it, and pretend that I was on the golf course. The point is, I was already enjoying the pleasures of a future event; namely, the unveiling. It had my name on it. I knew what it was." He took pleasure in the “Promise” that lay beneath the wrapping
APPLY: There is a sense of excitement about Christmas, particularly if you have kids. The lights, the decorations, the smells, the trips to outdoor light and drama displays. BUT MOST OF ALL, there’s the anticipation, the promise of the surprises in packages to be opened Christmas morning.
ILLUS: My nephew has lived us periodically as he’s grown up, and we’ve grown very close. One family Christmas, my wife & I bought him walkie talkies and wrapped them separately. In our family we have the custom of distributing all of the gifts and then taking turns opening them one at a time. My nephew was about 10 at the time, and you could see his eyes light up as he unwrapped the first walkie talkie. It didn’t seem to dawn on him that walkie talkies needed two units to work. He was just excited to have the one in his hands. Then he waited patiently as others in the family opened their gifts. It just so happened that the next gift he selected was the 2nd walkie talkie. When he’d unwrapped it, he looked excitedly over at me and shouted out: “Hey, look uncle, there’s one for you too!”
Now Christians may debate whether gift giving should even be part of Christmas, but you have to admit (particularly if you have kids around)…it is fun. That’s because kids recognize the excitement that surrounds the entire day.
I. That is the kind of excitement that you sense as you read Luke 2:8-20 (KJV)
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying & praising God for all the things that they had heard & seen, as it was told unto them.
ILLUS: Back when I was a boy every Christmas our church held a cantata. It was a big affair partly because it was a big church. In the choir loft there were 25 or 30 singers, singing songs that that told the story of that first Christmas morning. Then there was always Joseph & Mary making their way down the center aisle of the sanctuary and making their way to the Innkeeper who told them (either in song, or by words, or by motions) there was no room in the inn. Quietly they’d make their way up to the stage where a manger was prepared to receive the child.
Somewhere in the cantata there would always be wise men making their way thru the north doors of the auditorium and dressed in regal apparel. They would solemnly march down side of building and mount the steps up to the stage and there they would present gifts to Jesus.
BUT THE HIGHLIGHT of the cantata (at least for me) was when the shepherds made their entrance. They would be over in front of the baptistery, watching over their flock of cardboard & cotton sheep. And then, suddenly, a light focused on a single angel in a white robe, trimmed in silver garland with large wings attached to her back. This angel announced the birth of Christ to these shepherds.
THEN -on cue - the entire balcony lit up and there stood a multitude of about 30 children also dressed in white robes and sparkling wings. All singing praises to God for His gift of Jesus.
Every year it was the same thing. Every year, you could count on Mary & Joseph, the wise men, the shepherds… and of course (pause) the angels. Each appearing on cue and in their proper time.
Now, as a boy (raised in a church where that happened every year), it was hard for me to imagine that maybe original Christmas play wasn’t scripted (like that cantata). It was hard for me to imagine that the shepherds hadn’t gone out into fields expecting to hear angels singing praises in the heavens. And it was hard to imagine that it would even be possible that the angels would have given their message to anyone other than shepherds. It was in the script.
AND it would have been hard to imagine that God would not plan to fill the skies with angels glorifying God and singing praises to Him.
BUT I’ve begun to think that maybe one part of this scene hadn’t been scripted. Hadn’t been planned. I’m suspecting that when Luke tells us that “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men…” that this wasn’t something that God had ordered done. I believe that this occurrence on this first Christmas Evening was one of spontaneous joy & excitement
II. The way I picture it, the plan was to have one angel (and only one angel) make the announcement to shepherds
I mean, that’s all God had used with Zechariah, and he was the father of John the Baptist. And later, one angel appeared to Joseph, and one angel to Mary. These were all important announcements, and yet on each occasion, God only used one angel. And, I believe that’s how this announcement started out.
But now notice the word Luke uses to describe what happened next: (vs. 13) “Suddenly.” According to the Strong’s Concordance, the Greek word used here means “of a sudden, suddenly, unexpectedly” (stress “unexpectedly”). I think this part of the Christmas scene – where the chorus of angels filled the sky – was totally unexpected and unplanned.
III. Picture, if you will, what it must have been like in heaven.
In the beginning, God had created the world to be perfect, filled with men & women who were designed to walk with God in union and peace. The angels would have watched as the Heavenly Father lovingly crafted each part of the garden and placed Adam and Eve within. And, the angels would have watched as Satan slithered down into the Garden and (thru guile & temptation) had stolen and corrupted all that had once been pure & unspoiled. Sadness and anger must have overwhelmed the angelic host and they saw Satan’s success.
But then, these same angels would have listened as the Heavenly Father unfolded His plan for restoring that which the Devil had defiled by his treachery. ONE DAY God would send His only begotten Son to earth to restore that which had once had been His.
So, when Gabriel appeared to Zechariah – and then to Joseph – and then to Mary… the excitement began to build, and build, and build, with each successive announcement. Until the angels of heaven could hardly stand it any longer.
And now - at last – the child has been born, and all of God’s angels are standing on tip toe to see this one event that they have waited (ever since eternity) to see fulfilled. And as the announcement is made… they practically burst onto the scene singing praises to God and filling the heavens with their presence.
I Peter 1:10-12 tells us that when the prophets prophesied about Christ – they didn’t know who it was they were predicting… and so they “searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (I Peter 1:10b-11).
AND THEN, talking about what these prophets were told about Jesus, Peter makes this revealing comment: He wrote that these were things that “the angels desire to look into” (vs. 12).
The angels had been waiting expectantly to look into what took place that Christmas day, and when it finally happened, they flooded the sky and danced with joy.
IV. And their excitement was contagious.
We’re told that – no sooner had the angels disappeared into heaven – the shepherds said one unto the other:
“Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” (vs. 15). AND then they took off.
A question: What did they do with their sheep? They left them behind. Their sheep were back in the field unguarded, and alone. These shepherds are so overwhelmed by - urgency & passion of the angelic host that verse 16 tells us that they dropped everything and “hurried off” to the manger.
There’s an old joke about a little girl in a Sunday School class who (upon hearing about the part of the story where the shepherds “came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger”) tells the teacher she knew one of the names of the shepherds. Puzzled, the teacher asked what she thought the name of that shepherd was. “Haste,” replied the girl. It says they “came with Haste.”
What’s even more peculiar about the shepherd’s behavior was that even after they’d seen the child, and worshipped God in that humble barn they didn’t go back to their sheep even then. Luke tells us that “When (the shepherds) had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child… (and they were) glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:17, 20)
V. Now, there are a few things I want you to see
The first is this: the 1st Christmas was filled with heavenly excitement. And this “heavenly excitement” was so powerful that it influenced the heart of shepherds and moved them to change their lives. You see, up until this time, the shepherds were simple men, doing dreary dead end jobs that they repeated day, after day, after day. But, then they changed. What changed them?
Well, 1st they heard a message of God’s love for them and their people.
Then they went and saw for themselves who this Jesus was.
Then, they accepted for themselves what they had seen & heard.
That’s what changed them. That’s what created their excitement. That’s what made them forget everything but God, and compelled them to tell everyone they met about what they had seen and heard.
That’s the same journey all of us have taken who have become Christians. We’ve heard about Jesus, seen Him for who He is and were changed by accepting His claims into our lives.
But, now the 2nd thing I want you to see, is that many Christians go thru that process… but after a time, they lose their excitement and the feelings that once drove them on seems to dry up. It’s kind of like they’ve opened up a gift on Christmas… and then seem to have been left with an empty box.
ILLUS: I have here a gift wrapped box. Can anybody guess what’s inside? (I spent the night before taking a cardboard box – about a foot and a half high – and cutting it open in the form of a cross. {it will have one square on top of the middle section, one square on either side, and two squares beneath}. Then I gift wrapped both sides of the cardboard and lightly taped it back together in the form of a box).
..O
OOO (It should look something like this)
..O
..O
For many Christians, it’s like they’ve opened the box and ultimately found it to be empty. Perhaps that’s because they were looking for the wrong thing at the manger and failed to see what was really important in what God gave us that day (display the “cross” that the opened box now forms). Perhaps its because they’ve forgotten the mystery and the excitement of what opening presents is all about.
If you watch children on Christmas morning, it isn’t so much the present that excites them, as it is opening the gaily wrapped gifts. They will go from gift to gift, playing with the toys contained within only for a few moments. Then after all the gifts have been opened, they might even abandon them all and go off to play with something else entirely.
Perhaps we need to go back and reopen the mystery of Christmas. Reopen the experience we had when we first became Christians, and revisit what we first heard and saw about Jesus, so that renew the excitement as it was when we first believed.
Other Sermons in this Series:
Believing To See Luke 1:5-1:25
Truth In Advertising Luke 1:26-1:38
The Exciting Promise Luke 2:1-2:20
The Gift Of The Warm Heart Luke 2:21-2:40
