OPEN: A Salvation Army woman was informed by a policeman that a local ordinance would prevent her from ringing her bells to invite contributions. She was contrite and apologetic that she had “broken” the law. But the next day she was back in front of the store… doing a brisker business than ever… as she waved one sign and then another in the air.
One sign said "ding" and the other said "dong."
APPLY: Throughout this month, we’ll be seeing houses all lit up with Christmas lights and decorated with reindeer on the roofs and those blowup Santa Clauses and Snowmen balloons in their yards. Stores will be filled with tinsel, Christmas trees, and holiday music. And of course, you’ll see the Salvation Army people out there ringing their bells and asking for donations for the poor.
When you see these things taking place, you know that Christmas isn’t too far away. These are all signs of the season. The woman in our story also was a sign of the season... and she even used literal “signs” to get her message across.
Scripture says that God ALSO used a literal “sign” to get His message across. The angel said to the shepherds:
"And this will be a SIGN to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." Luke 2:12 NKJV
As I thought on that verse (and the use of the word “sign” in it) a couple of things occurred to me:
1st - this was not the kind of “sign” I would have used. I’d have used something far more dramatic. I mean, here are these shepherds surrounded by angelic beings that fill the sky and they’re so frightened that they’re literally frozen in their tracks. One commentator suggested that they may have even fallen to the ground and groveled at the feet of these heavenly beings.
Comparatively, the presence of a baby in a manger seems almost anti-climatic to me.
But the 2nd thing that I noticed in this passage was that this subtle “sign” of the baby in the manger had a more powerful effect on the shepherds than anything I would have thought up.
Luke 2 tells us that “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.” Luke 2:17-18 & 20
This quiet unassuming child, in the feeding trough of a barn, seemed to have an overwhelming effect on these simple shepherds. And it drew their attention to the main message that God intended to communicate.
There’s a great advertising phrase that Christians have used over the past few years: “Jesus is the reason for the season.”
He’s the reason that we Christians celebrate.
He’s the focus of this ENTIRE holy season for us.
Now, there are many “signs” of this season: there’s the bright lights, the festive decorations, the cheerful music…. and on and on and on. And they are all enjoyable parts of the celebration. But it’s possible for these “signs” distract us from the Baby in the manger... from Jesus. And if that happens to us then we can end up missing the true sign of the season.
I realize there’s been a lot of furor over businesses trying to remove Christ from Christmas. But even if that wasn’t happening – even if every store in the nation placed a nativity scene in it’s front window - we could still miss the true meaning of the season.
Why?
Because, just like my admitting that the manger seemed anti-climatic compared to the angels, there are lots of people – even Christians – who get wrapped up in the hustle and bustle, the hurrying about to buy presents and to decorate the house, going to this event or that party, that Jesus just kind of falls into the background.
It’s not that they mean to overlook the baby in the manger… it’s just that there’s a lot of other stuff going on. There’s so much else that’s intriguing and entertaining and powerful that Jesus can get overshadowed.
But we who love Jesus don’t want that happening to us, so it’s important that we guard against becoming distracted. From being lulled into focusing on something other than Jesus during the season. How can we do that?
Bill Hybels (preacher at the Willow Creek Church up by Chicago) had an intriguing suggestion: He suggested that we us the tools we’ve already been given.
I. For example, he suggested, that we should realize how powerful Christmas music is.
ILLUS: According to one commentator
“Before the advent of the Christmas carol, celebrations of Christmas had become so depraved and rowdy that the observance of the joyous season was once forbidden by the English Parliament. The meaning of Christmas had become lost in a maelstrom of reveling, drunkenness, rioting, and depravity. Decent people found it necessary to stay indoors for safety. The situation became so shameful that in 1644 Parliament passed strict laws making it illegal to commemorate the season in any way whatsoever!” (Knight)
Christians eventually decided to take back the true meaning of the season, and Christmas carols were one of the tools they used to help. They soon found that Carols had a powerful effect on people.
ILLUS: Country legend, Travis Tritt spent years playing in out-of-the-way joints before he made it big in the music industry. He once explained that many of the bars were dangerous places, with drunk fans starting fights over the smallest matters. But Tritt found a unique way to keep the peace in such situations.
He said that “when [bar fights] started getting out of hand, when bikers were reaching for their pool cues and rednecks were heading for the gun rack, I’d start playing ’Silent Night.’ It could be the middle of July -- I didn’t care. Sometimes they’d even start crying, standing there watching me sweat and play Christmas carols." -- "Twang! The Ultimate Book of Country Music Quotations," compiled by Raymond Obstfeld and Sheila Burgener (New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1997), 47.
Christmas music has the power to bring us back to the love of God in a manger.
ILLUS: At our mid-week Youth group, our children’s minister (Greg) started talking about the coming Christmas holiday. He asked the children what their favorite Christmas songs were... and what do you think they said? “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer”.
A lot of the kids come from broken homes where Christ isn’t at the center of their lives. Most of the Christmas songs they hear anymore are innocuous but clever songs of Santa. Now Greg didn’t put that down, but what he did do was teach the kids a Christmas carol.
Why? Because that’s our message. Our objective is to put Christ into the Christmas season for these kids.
Christmas Carols are a powerful tool to teach others about Jesus. And they can have a strong influence in our lives as well, if we let them.
II. Another thing we can do to help us focus on Jesus is to use the common activities of the season remind us of God’s love.
Christmas Cards, for example. Whenever you receive a Christmas card, that tells you that somebody has cared enough for you. to put you on a list – a friendship list. Hybels suggests that whenever you open a card this season, use that card as a reminder that God cared enough for you to put you on His list. He sent you His only Son, to be born in a manger and die on a cross because He cares for YOU.
Christmas decorations are another source of such reminders. One man observed that
Ø when I see a Christmas tree, I am reminded that the first Adam took the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil from his wife and sinned against a holy God (Gen 3:6), but that the second Adam, took the fruit of that sin and bled and died on another tree to pay the price of that sin.
Ø When I smell the scent of the evergreen, I’m reminded that I have new life because Jesus died on the cross to give me everlasting life (John 3:16).
Ø The ornaments hanging on the tree also remind me of what Jesus has done for me.
When I see the red ones, I think about the blood of Jesus that He shed for my salvation.
The silver and gold remind me of God’s blessings in my life
Ø and the candy cane reminds me that Jesus is the Good Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). The white stripes remind me that Jesus was sinless (2 Cor. 5:21). The red stripes that he shed His blood for me (Eph 1:7). Both colors of stripes remind me that my spiritual healing comes only through His stripes (Isa 53:5).
Ø And the angel on the top of the tree reminds me of my responsibility to tell the world that Jesus has come, just as the angel of old did with the shepherds in the field (Luke 2:10). www.freshministry.com
See! If you’re inventive enough, you can see Jesus in practically everything that surrounds you this season.
Hybels even suggested you can see Jesus in your Christmas presents you buy at the store. Whenever you whip out your wallet - or open your purse remember the price that was paid for you salvation. Realize that the same love you put into selecting the “Right” gift for someone is only a token of the love God had for you when He chose the best gift for you.
III. And last - but definitely not least - is the power the Nativity Scene has to draw our attention back to Jesus.
Lots of us decorate our homes with the manger scene. The angels, the wise men, the shepherds, the cattle and sheep, Joseph and Mary… and the Baby in the manger.
ILLUS: One man made the observation that one of the 1st thing he notices about manger scene is that everyone – Mary, Joseph, the shepherds – their all looking in the same direction. They’re all looking at the manger. At the baby lying in the manger.
And so he took the time to ask himself what they were thinking as they were gathered there.
· Joseph was probably recalling what the angel had told him earlier in a dream, that this child was not conceived from any man, but from the Holy Spirit.
God is going to be the physical father of this baby, not Joseph. Joseph is probably thinking about his responsibility of taking care of this holy child.
Joseph is probably remembering that the angel had told him that this child should be named Jesus, because he would save people from their sins.
· Mary was probably remembering what the angel Gabriel had said to her, that this baby would be called the Son of the Most High. God would someday give this child the throne of David. He was going to be a king, and he would reign forever and ever.
As Mary looks down at the manger, she probably has questions too:
“How am I supposed to raise the Son of the Most High God?
· And the shepherds were probably were thinking of what the angel had said to them, that this little infant is the Christ, the one that God had been talking about for thousands of years in the Old Testament. This little child is the Lord, Jehovah. He is the one who brings peace on earth. And there he is, lying in a manger, just as the angel said he would be. But as those shepherds look at that child, I wonder if they had questions too, questions like, “How can this little baby be the Christ? Wasn’t the Christ supposed to be greater than this? Shouldn’t the Son of God be born in a palace and not a stable? Why is it this way? How would he bring peace to this earth”
IV. The simplest things are usually the best when trying to keep Jesus at the center of our Christmas.
After all, a helpless baby lying in a barn is one of the simplest things God could have done.
· Nothing is more common than the birth of child
· Nothing is more ordinary than a cattle stall.
· Nothing is more humble than a quiet evening gathered in worship
It’s those quite times of worship,
where we set aside time to read the story from Luke to our families/ to ourselves.
where we gather as Christian brothers and sisters in a candle-lite services.
or we simply set down and thank God for this wondrous gift.
It’s the simple and the quiet things that bring us back to the manger. (long pause…)
V. Lastly… how do we know if we’ve been successful?
How do we know if we’ve actually focused on Jesus the way those early Shepherds did?
Well, we can tell by observing how they reacted to the child in the manger.
Luke 2 says that “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.” Luke 2:17-18 & 20
Look at how the birth of Jesus affected them:
· They talked to others about Him
· They told of what He meant to them
· They glorified God and praised Him for all that He had done.
If we’re successful focusing on Jesus this season then we’ll be so filled with the wonder of what He has done for us that we’ll want to talk to others about what He means to us. We’ll want to glorify God and praise Him to everyone around us.
Because when we actually come to the manger, we realize how much God really loves us and how much He wants to fix what is wrong in our lives, and heal our wounds. It’s then that the most powerful reasons for the season are seen and heard.
CLOSE: Missionary Gene Dulin tells of standing in Austria, looking at a hand carved nativity scene. The figures were a bit larger than life size and it was one of the most beautiful that he had ever seen.
As he stood thinking about the meaning of the nativity, a grandmother stopped with her 3 year old grandchild. She stooped over and began talking with the child. She pointed to Mary, then to Joseph, and to the baby.
Dulin says he couldn’t understand her language, but he knew she was telling the story of Jesus to her grandchild. Then Dulin added, "For 2000 years parents and grandparents have passed on the story of Jesus. It has changed millions of lives and the whole world."
And that is the gift of the baby in the manger.
