What Will You Do With Christ Child? Christmas!

What Will You Do With The Christ Child?

Mathew 1:18-2:1-12 Luke 2:4-18 12/22/2019

Let’s see what type of groups we are made up of this morning. Suppose you went to a restaurant and ordered something, but when they brought the dish to you, it was not made the way you had ordered it. How many of you are going to take the initiative and say to the waiter, “this is not what I asked for, please take it back and prepare the way I ordered it.”

How many of you are going to be disappointed, but you will eat around it and only say something if the waiter asks you how it is? How many of you are going to eat a little, but still leave a tip? How many of you are going to leave it, say nothing, and not leave a tip?

What is it that gives you the right to act in any one of these ways? You’re right, the fact that you are paying for the meal gives you certain rights to handle the situation in the manner you choose. It’s your money, so you should be able to determine how the meal should be prepared for your liking.

But what if you have been invited to be the dinner guest of a famous person. The person has catered the meal, and everyone is serve the exact same dish. You are already seated at the table and the food is served to you without any input from you. It’s obvious the host has spared no expense to provide you with this free meal.

But the meal is not prepared the way you really want it. What rights do you now have to complain about what is being served? Actually the only right you have is to choose between eating the meal and not eating the meal. What are you going to do with meal?

Christmas is actually about a heavenly host by the name of God, who realized that we are all in need of a meal that can nourish and sustain us. God has served up to us in the form of a manger, this Christ child, named Jesus, who one day will declare, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Here is the problem with what God has served. It is the same Christ child that is being presented to all of us, but there is something in us that will cause us to react differently to the meal that God has provided for us. We are going to look at the meal and try to decide if the meal meets our specifications, our desires, and what we think is in our best interest. Now I know some of us may be wondering if the meal was actually sent by God.

I think one thing we can all agree on is that this world today is a pretty messed up place. With all the money, the power, and the wisdom of the brightest minds on the planet, we are no closer to ending poverty, crime, sexual abuse, slavery, in-equal justice systems, racism, sexism and oppression. Not only do we see these things on a national and international level, we also see them on an individual level.

If we are completely honest with ourselves, we see them on a personal level in which we ourselves have a problem with greed, envy, selfishness, anger, un-forgiveness, hatred, and disobedience toward God. It’s hard to argue against both the world and us as individuals are in need of a Savior.

That is why the angels announced gladly to the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord.”

The good news of Christmas is that God is ready to do something about the pain and suffering going on in the world and in our own lives. All of us are included in those words “great joy that will be for all the people” because all of us need a touch and a change by God. What were the reactions to the meal that God had provided for the world to eat. Let’s look at the reactions of some of the Christmas characters as they answered the question “What will you do with this Christ child.

The first group we look at are the shepherds. The angels are not sent to the good people in the temple to announce that Jesus is coming into the world. Instead they are sent to the shepherds. The shepherds were out in the fields guarding their flock of sheep. Among occupations, they had a very lowly place in society.