Christmas 3

“Christmas Story 3”

Let us start of tonight with a word of prayer.

For the past couple of weeks, here during this season of Christmas, we’ve been focused on the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. As Christians, we all have to admit, this is one of our most special days of the year. “December 25th”. We celebrate Christmas on the same day, year after year, and as we learned previously, we’ve been doing so since the mid 500’s. It’s a special day in the hearts of Christians all around the world. From Time Square in New York City, to the dusty roads of the Australian Outback. But have you ever stopped to think how special a day it must have been for the ones that actually experienced that very first Christmas? How special a day it must have been was for Mary, to be giving birth to the very Son of God, whom she knew was the Son of God, because the Angel Gabriel had appeared to her to let her know. And she knew she had never been with her promised husband Joseph. And this was indeed a miracle from God, whom had been silent for the past 400 years til then. And how special a day it must have been for Joseph, after being told in a dream by an Angel of the Lord, that all this which was taking place was from the Holy Spirit of God. How special a night it must have been for the shepherds that were tending there flocks, when an Angel of the Lord appeared to them along with the great company of heavenly hosts saying “glory to God in the highest”, and “peace on earth and goodwill to men”. And how special a day it must have been for the wise men from the East, that saw the new star in the heavens and followed it to Jerusalem, and then to Bethlehem and a manger, in search of the “King of the Jews”. It was truly a very special day for all of those whom God divinely used in His coming to earth, that He may walk among us in the form of a human. In the form of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Our story tonight, like last week comes from Luke 2:8–11 , which we will read: “8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

And the story also comes from Matthew 2:1-11, which we will also read:

Matthew 2:1–11 (NKJV)

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

I’m sure the question, “how shall we know the child”? Was the first question that both the shepherds and the wise men were asking on that first Christmas.

There were two ways, given in scripture, by which they could know Him. The angel said to the shepherds: “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12). When the shepherds got to where the child was they had no trouble identifying Him. It was exactly like the Angel had told them.

The wise men on the other hand, were given a different sign, an amazing, bright, new star to follow as they journeyed in search of the new born King. They had followed the star all the way to Jerusalem. But not trusting where the star was leading them, they stopped in Jerusalem went to the palace, believing a future king had been born there. But they didn’t find Him, and, picking up the guidance of the star again, they were led to Bethlehem where the child was, and they recognized Him when the star stopped exactly over where He was . Matt 2:9 “And lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was”. They found Him in a much humbler surrounding than the palace in Jerusalem.

We have here, two ways of knowing Christ Jesus, which are just as applicable for us today, as they were to those who were looking to identify Him on that first Christmas. The shepherds would know Him by simple, elemental things of earth, while the wise men would identify Him by a sign from the heavens.

Simple Things

Swaddling clothes and a manger. What simple things. They were signs that plain and unsophisticated men like the shepherds could know and follow. Swaddling clothes were coarse garments, kinda like burlap, used by the poor and less fortunate. The shepherds had most likely been wrapped in swaddling clothes themselves when they were babies, and they had wrapped their own children in them also. And of course, the shepherds could not mistake a manger.

The shepherds were plain, unlearned men in a formal sense. They were not university graduates with diplomas hanging on their walls. They were not sophisticated, well learned men. They were rustic, simple, hard working men, who lived off the earth with its soil, winds, and rain. Yet, this doesn’t mean they weren’t wise. They were indeed wise about the simple, basic things of life. They knew about the changing of the seasons, the signs of earth and sky, sheep and sheepfolds, cattle and mangers. They knew about honest work, the secret of friendship, and the care of the family. They knew about truth, honor, faith, and love. They knew about those things that are the real undergirding of life.

These simple things, falling within the experience of these shepherds, helped identify Jesus whose life, speech, and manner were unbelievably simple.

If the first sign was so simple and consisted of things from the earth, the second sign was different, something from beyond earth. The wise men were guided by a light from the heavens to the Christ child. He was a child under a star, a child with the light of heaven in His face. This is how they would recognize Him.

These two ways of identifying Jesus that first Christmas, told us two fundamental things about Him. The swaddling clothes and manger told us how human He was. The star told us, of a light that shone in His face, a light not from earth, but a light from heaven. The light of God was in His face and seen in His eyes. He was both human and divine.

Jesus Christ was human. His life was grounded in the earth the same way ours are. The story of His birth, is that of a real birth. He was born of a woman, and His mother suffered the pain and agony of childbirth. He was a real baby who whimpered and cried during that first night. He felt more secure in His mother’s arms than anywhere else. He was not as strong and sturdy as the baby calf in the next manger, and He was more dependent on His parents than the baby animals were.

As any other oldest son, Jesus learned the trade of His father. He became a carpenter. He knew what it was to stand in wood shavings ankle deep, and to have hands calloused by carpenter’s tools. He knew what it was to sweat on a hot summer day, and to have his skin burned by the sun. He knew the feeling of fatigue, the rest of sleep, and the pleasure of eating hot bread from His mother’s oven. He knew what it was to love and to be angry, to laugh and to cry. He knew what it was to walk down into the valley of temptation with the shadows of evil surrounding Him. And He knew what it was to face death, and the fear from it, and to undergo its loneliness and agony.

Aren’t you glad for a Savior who has experienced our pain and who speaks your language? If He didn’t, how could you know Him, and how could He know you?

Yes, the humanity of Jesus is most important, and we can recognize Him by His swaddling clothes.

Heavenly Things

It brings us such peace and comfort to know, that Jesus was just like us, experiencing everything in life that we could ever possibly experience, and that He’s still with us. It brings us comfort to know that Jesus was tempted in all ways possible for man to be tempted, and yet without sin.

Therefore, we also need the star as a sign or mark of identifying Jesus. We need to see again the child with the light of heaven in His face.

We need Him to be with us in all the trials and tribulations of our lives. We need the comfort He brings when we get to the close of another day and realize we’ve made it one more time. We need the comfort He brings when we arise the next morning and realize we have Him with us yet for another day, and there’s nothing we could possibly face this day that He hasn’t already faced.

Christ is our source of light, in the night and darkness of our existence. John 1:4 says “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”.

The light He brings is not the light of the human mind, heart, or imagination. It is light from the heavens. It is the light of God’s love and truth and the light of God’s presence. Jesus has brought God the Father right dab into the middle of our human struggle.

It is little wonder that the birth of Jesus is spoken of as “the dayspring from on high” in Luke 1:78. Jesus is like a sunrise, a dawn, the first light of a new day.

Therefore, Christmas is not essentially about the lighting of our Christmas trees, or the decorating of our homes with bright, colorful lights, as beautiful as that may be. It’s about the light that shines from Jesus which has the power to warm our chilly hearts and to give us life in the midst of our spiritual death. A child was born beneath a star, and the light of heaven was in His face.

Yes, we need the simple swaddling clothes and a manger in one hand, and a bright shining star in the other, if we want to really be able to identify Jesus and know who He really is.

Those Who Seek Jesus

If swaddling clothes, a manger, and a star, tell us so much about the baby Jesus who was being sought after, those same things can tell us a lot about those who were seeking Him back then, and a lot about the ones that are seeking Him now. And what they tell us about the seekers then, and about the seekers now is this: We bring to Christ what we know, we understand Him in terms of what we experience.

The shepherds knew about swaddling clothes, sheep and shepherds, cattle and mangers. They didn’t borrow from anyone else. They brought what they had and identified the baby Jesus in terms of their own understanding and experience.

The wise men were probably Jewish astrologers and religious leaders from the East. They studied the scriptures and the heavens, believing that the destinies of people and nations are controlled by God and seen in the stars. And one night as they scanned the heavens they saw a new star in the western sky. It was so brilliant and lustrous that they may have exclaimed: “A new king has been born!” So they traveled westward until they found the child. Just as did the shepherds, they brought what they had. They were astrologers, students of the heavens, as well as the scriptures, and a star from their own knowledge guided them to where the child was.

What if the shepherds had tried to borrow the knowledge of the wise men? What if the wise men had tried to use the simple experience of the shepherds? Their missions would have failed. But both, being true to themselves, their own integrity, and the leading given them, by the Holy Spirit, successfully concluded their mission. They found the baby Jesus.

And so it is with us today. We bring who we are, what we know, and what we have experienced. We do not have to learn a new language, have some strange experience, or give a password. There is only one requirement: that the objects of experience, no matter how simple, or sophisticated that we bring, carry love, trust, the desire for relationships, and the openness to a new life.

So we come to this Christmas. Some of us are simple like the shepherds. Our experience is very bound and limited. We are very down to earth and practical in the way we think. Some of us are learned and sophisticated like the wise men. We come talking about philosophy, dreams, space, and the stars. And Christ looks at what we all bring and says a wonderful thing: “It is enough!”

So we come from diverse ways and experiences, but we discover the same Christ, whose birth is dated, and whose life is historical, yet who is universal. And the ground at the manger, like that of the cross, is made level. There is room for everyone. The shepherds were locals, the wise men foreigners from the East. They found no barriers there and they made a common response. They worshiped the Lord Jesus. That is the best response we can have as Christians this Christmas. Let us whole heartily worship God, who sent His only begotten Son into the world to save us from our sins, on that very first Christmas.

Let’s pray together:

Lord, thank you for Christmas, and we thank you for your word that reveals to us your awesome character and love. We pray that the Word would become flesh and dwell among us in our hearts this Christmas. Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus throughout this Christmas season. For our good, and for your glory. Amen.

As we are singing our last hymn tonight, and we’re reflecting on how Jesus can dwell among us in our hearts this Christmas, and if you’ve never honored God by asking the Lord Jesus to come into your heart and be your personal Lord and savior, this would be the perfect time to do just that. God has made that so easy for us. The Bible says that anyone, and I do mean anyone, who calls on the name of the Lord WILL BE SAVED. It doesn’t matter what your past may look like. Remember the apostle Paul, before the Lord saved him on that road to Damascus, how he persecuted the church, and had the Lord’s people put in prison. And King David who commited adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah murdered on the battlefield. Those two men of God commited terrible sins, and the Lord forgave them. The Lord doesn’t care about our past, He just cares about our future. And He wants all people to spend that future with Him in eternity, in that place He calls heaven. Don’t wait another second. If you have any doubt at all about your eternal security, or what’s going to happen when you die, I beg you to get it settled. Settle it now. Get it taken care of right now, right here,--- right where you are sitting.---Just quietly, with your heads bowed, and your heart’s toward God, just pray a little prayer like this..............say..