TOUCH THE FORGOTTEN
Luke 2:8-20
S: Honor the Overlooked
Th: The Christmas Touch
Pr: WE NEED TO CONNECT WITH THOSE THAT ARE OVERLOOKED.
?: Inductive
KW: Stages
TS: We will find in the story found in Luke 2:8-20 three stages that encourage us to connect with the overlooked.
The _____ stage is…
I. DERISION (8)
II. DECLARATION (9-14)
III. DEVOTION (15-20)
RMBC 09 December 01 AM
INTRODUCTION:
1. Have you ever forgotten something that is important?
ILL Notebook: Forget (how’s Dad?)
There’s a story about a young woman who went away to college in the fall, leaving her plants and her goldfish in the care of her mother, who had a tendency to be forgetful. Some of us may know somebody with a "brown thumb." This mother had one. The plants that the daughter left behind in the care of her mother died at the end of the month. The mother dutifully broke the bad news to her. When the young woman called a week later, her mother confessed that the goldfish had died too.
There was a long pause, then in a fearful voice the girl asked, "How’s Dad?"
As we come into the Christmas season, it is easy to forget what is important…like feeding Dad.
Seriously though, we easily get our priorities mixed up.
And the true meaning of Christmas gets lost.
We begin to think it is about presents, decorations and parties.
But the truth is…
2. The true meaning of Christmas is not found in the wrappings, but in the gift (Luke 2:8-20).
You know who helps us with getting the true meaning of Christmas correct?
It is Charles Schulz’ “Charlie Brown Christmas.”
In this Christmas program that is broadcast faithfully every year, Charlie Brown picks out a lonely tree with only a few branches as a tree for the gang’s Christmas program.
When he brings the tree back, everyone mocks him for picking such a lousy tree (it bends over; the needles keep falling off), which makes Charlie Brown all the more depressed.
And in despair, he tells us that he doesn’t know what the true meaning of Christmas is all about.
It is then, his friend Linus informs us all.
He says something like this:
(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.
And this, folks, is what it is about.
It is about the gift.
It is about God with us.
It is about God coming to touch us.
It is the Christmas touch.
So…
3. Using Luke 2:8-20, let’s examine three stages that describe the shepherd’s role in the Christmas story.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first stage is DERISION (8).
1. There was a fellowship of the forgettable.
More appropriately, they were the marginalized forgotten.
They had no status in their culture.
They were uneducated, smelled lousy, and were considered low-class.
They were called shepherds.
During Jesus’ time, being a shepherd was a dead-end job.
There was no hope for advancement.
They had little chance of doing anything different the rest of their life.
As a result, you wouldn’t want your daughter to marry one.
You would want your daughter to marry better.
2. There (these) were people that were considered outcasts and misfits.
Shepherds had a hard, thankless job.
And it was dangerous.
It was their responsibility to protect the sheep from robbers and wild animals.
But in the big scheme of things, they were not considered very important.
As far as spiritual matters, they were considered unclean.
They couldn’t participate in feasts and holy days.
In regard to society matters, shepherds were infamous for thievery.
Thus, they were not permitted to give testimony in legal proceedings.
ILL Omartian: Child of the Promise
In the musical “Child of the Promise” by Michael and Stormie Omartian, the song “Nothing Ever Happens to a Shepherd” capture what it was like for shepherds:
"It’s cold outside in this God-forsaken place and we’re stuck here with a thousand sheep.
While life is exciting for everybody else, the highlight of our day is sleep.
It’s lonely out here in this isolated job.
Our position is without esteem.
We’re socially challenged.
We’re society’s scourge.
We’re not exactly every woman’s dream.
Shepherds have a humble purpose.
Of our fate few people care.
Sometimes I wonder if God knows we exist.
If he does he’s forgotten where.
Nothing ever happens to a shepherd.
Life is boring as can be.
While exciting things occur all over the world, nothing ever happens to me."
Loneliness, weariness and boredom characterized the life of the shepherd.
This brings us to…
II. The second stage is DECLARATION (9-14).
When it comes to the announcement about Jesus…
1. Who would you have told first?
After all, this was the Messiah.
This was the greatest birth of all time.
So if you were God, who would you choose?
You see, if it were us, we would most likely seek out the celebrities of the day.
We would pick the “beautiful” people.
In the culture then, our choices may have included the religious leaders—the priests at the temple, the rabbis and the synagogue officials.
Our choices may have included the secular rulers—King Herod, military leaders or Caesar himself.
Perhaps they could have been the influential leaders of the city or the wealthy merchants.
Our choices and God’s choice are different.
For…
2. God intentionally chose shepherds.
I think it is fair to say that the shepherds would not have been expecting this.
As mentioned before, they were not a spiritually minded bunch.
After all, their deepest theological discussions were with sheep.
But this was not a random choice.
God sent angels to shepherds!
(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."
ILL Lucado quote (Applause of Heaven)
I like how Max Lucado expresses it in The Applause of Heaven:
An ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook and “extra” on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed. The sheep would have been forgotten, and the shepherds would have slept the night away.
But God dances amidst the common. And that night he did a waltz.
The black sky exploded with brightness. … Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherd was dead asleep, the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an alien.
The night was ordinary no more.
The angel came in the night because that is when lights are best seen and that is when they are most needed. God comes into the common for the same reason.
God often chooses to do his greatest work through people or things we normally think of as weak or unimportant.
This is what Paul means in I Corinthians when he writes:
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
To God, nobodies are somebodies.
To God, each one needs to hear the good news.
This leads us to…
III. The third stage is DEVOTION (15-20).
1. The first names in the guest book belonged to the shepherds.
When the shepherds got the news about the birth of Jesus, I like the fact that they did not come casually.
They moved on it.
They hurried.
This was such good news, one had to act on it immediately.
They became the first guests to this miraculous birth.
So…
2. Something exciting was happening to a people that were characterized by nothing exciting ever happening.
This was network-worthy news.
If there had been TV back then, they would have been on the news.
These social misfits were, by God’s design and desire, the first to know and respond.
Again, they were the first to know and respond according to God’s design and desire.
WE NEED TO CONNECT WITH THOSE THAT ARE OVERLOOKED.
APPLICATION:
ILL Drama “An Open Heart”
1. WE NEED TO CONNECT WITH THOSE THAT ARE OVERLOOKED (Matthew 25:35-36, 40).
Some of the overlooked during that day were shepherds.
But the truth that we must not miss is that God continues to identify with the poor.
God absolutely insists that we reach out to the overlooked.
For when we do, we reach out to Him.
And when we do not, we resist Him.
For as it says in Matthew…
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
The overlooked today come in many categories.
They are the elderly, outcast, and homeless.
They are the unappreciated and challenged.
They are the untouchable, the addicts, and the diseased.
They are infected with AIDS.
They are convicted felons.
They are the battered wives and neglected children.
They are migrant workers.
Essentially, the overlooked are the ones you are overlooking.
Just like the shepherds, all are invited to worship.
All are invited to “come and see.”
By the grace of God, each one of us is welcomed here.
ILL Lucado
When considering how to “honor the overlooked,” we usually don’t need to look too far.
Max Lucado muses about how lepers were treated in the Old Testament but illustrates how we do much the same thing today.
He writes:
It seems harsh, doesn’t it? The banishing of a leper seems unnecessary. Of course, the ancient East isn’t the only culture to isolate their wounded. We may not build colonies or cover our mouths in their presence, but we build other walls and avert our eyes.
Some years ago David Robinson, who plays basket-ball in San Antonio, visited our church. He’s not a member of our church, but he shows up occasionally. You can imagine the stir that occurred when that seven-foot, striking fellow walked in the audi-torium. He came to the first service, and at the end of it, people mobbed him. The pandemonium finally settled down, and he went his way, and we began the second service.
As I stood to do the announcements, a homeless person walked in the back of the auditorium. He came down the center aisle with his backpack, ratty jeans, and torn T-shirt. His face was unshaven, and he had a distinct odor. He walked down to the front and sat down.
The contrast struck me. When David Robinson enters, he was immediately swamped. People wanted to touch him and be close to him. Nobody jumped up to sit next to the homeless man. After two or three awkward minutes, one of our elders got up from his seat and sat by the man and touched him.
I was struck. The message I received in my heart that morning was, If you want to touch Jesus, whom do you touch? Jesus said, “Whatever you’ve done for the least of these, my brethren, you’ve done also to me.” And so, if we want to touch Jesus, we have a special use for our hands—to touch people no one else wants to touch. We can find special purpose by seeking out the forgotten the ignored—people like this man. We can seek out the untouched and touch them.
God doesn’t give preference to any group or class.
He does not discriminate on the basis of intelligence, education, wealth, profession, political power, or social standing.
2. Jesus is the Savior of all equally (Luke 2:10).
As the angel declared to the overlooked shepherds:
“…I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody…”
The Message
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Connect with the overlooked…for though our worship time together is ending, the service has just begun; there are many God wants us to reach that are being ignored, intentionally or unintentionally.
Connect with the overlooked…ask God to give you compassion and passion to understand the needs, and then extend the loving arms of God around others.
Connect with the overlooked…see God’s face on those that are ignored; touch them with your eyes, your time and your love.
"The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."
Amen.
This series of messages was based on Mainstay Church Resources’, “The Christmas Touch, Making Christlike Connections during the Holidays.” The resources they provided were used in the development of these messages.
