Christmas Eve 2024

WELCOME - Merry Christmas! Welcome! My name is Josh and I am one of the pastors on staff here at CCC and we are so glad that you have chosen to spend part of your Christmas with us. I don’t know what brought you here tonight. For a lot of you, you probably want to be here. For some in the room tonight, maybe this is more of a tradition to attend a Christmas Eve service than anything else. For some of you, maybe you came because a friend or family member asked you to. Maybe a mom or grandma forced you to come tonight and you’d rather be somewhere else. I get that. But here’s the thing. I believe everyone is here for a reason tonight. I believe God has something He wants all of us to hear and experience on this Christmas Eve. So, whatever brought you here tonight, I encourage you to be present, in the moment, and see if God speaks to you through what we experience tonight.

SCRIPTURE SETUP: Come out of the kids video and tie it in to the theme for the night. A reminder that tonight is about remembering our Savior, Jesus, coming to earth to bring good news and hope. Tonight we are going to be looking at the Christmas story from Luke 2. Before we jump into the main part of the passage that we will be focusing on during the message I want to read the first part of the passage to set us up for what we will discuss in a few minutes.

Luke 2:1-7 ESV

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

PRAY

INTRO: Christmas presents us with an interesting opportunity to flip our perspective. The story of Christmas, Jesus incarnate, Emmanuel - God with us, is more than just a nice story. There are lots of babies born every single day. It was no different in Jesus’ time. I’m sure Jesus was not the only baby born that same night 2000 years ago. But Jesus, was the only one born of a miraculous, virgin birth, the only one who fulfilled prophecies that were hundreds of  years old and the only one whose birth was announced by angels from heaven. Why? Because the birth of Jesus brought “good news of great joy for all people”. We’re going to discuss that in just a minute. Before we do…

ILLUSTRATION: Tonight we want to shift our perspective as it applies to how we view our lives in light of the Christmas story. To get us thinking about perspective I want to share a quick story…3 women died in a car accident at the same time, went to Heaven and they were greeted by St. Peter. Peter explained there was only one rule for Heaven - don’t step on the ducks. Why is this a rule? Who knows? Obviously these heavenly ducks are special and really important and St. Peter does not want them to be stepped on. When the first lady walks through the gates and gets into heaven she realizes it’s like a sea of ducks and it’s actually really difficult to avoid stepping on a duck; steps on a duck almost immediately; Peter appears with a chain and the ugliest man she has ever seen. Peter explains that her penalty for stepping on one of these heavenly ducks is being chained to this hideous man for all eternity. Day 2 - lady 2 makes the exact same mistake. Just like with the first lady, Peter shows up; chain; hideous man and explains the penalty that she will be chained to him for all eternity. Lady 3, she was no dummy. For months she was very careful making sure that she didn’t make any missteps and she went months without stepping on any ducks. One day, out of nowhere for no reason at all, Peter shows up with a chain and the most handsome guy this woman had ever seen. Like Hallmark Christmas movie handsome guy come to life. Peter chains her to this man and then just disappears. She is completely confused and just dumbfounded and she says “well, I don’t know what I did to deserve to be chained to you?”. This handsome, Hallmark Christmas movie looking man responds, “well I don’t know what you did but I stepped on a duck.”

It’s all about perspective. The third woman was seeing her circumstance from the wrong perspective. How often do we do that in our own lives? We look at our lives and wonder how anything will ever change. We deal with doubt, fear, anxiety, difficult circumstances and we try to fix them on our own but nothing seems to work. We keep finding ourselves with the same doubts, the same fears, the same difficult circumstances day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year and it can be exhausting, right? I’m sure we all can relate to that in some way or another. If not, congratulations on a perfect life haha. But seriously church, let’s be real tonight. Let’s be honest with ourselves. Life can be difficult and when we rely on ourselves alone it can become even more difficult, and frustrating, and hurtful and exhausting. But there’s good news and here’s what we need to hear tonight…Christmas is an opportunity to see our situation, our circumstance, our struggles from a completely new and different perspective. Let me explain why and how as we read our main passage for this evening.

Luke 2:8-12 ESV

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

“Good news of great joy” - The world Jesus was born into: Jesus was born into a political and cultural hotbed. We know the Roman Empire was the largest and most influential power. They were ruthless and all about making their ruler, Caesar Augustus, and their empire richer. The Jewish people believed the reason the census was happening, the reason Mary and Joseph were even in Bethlehem, was so Rome could tax the Jewish people even more. It was about more control and more taxes. The Jewish people were split on all these issues. Jewish leadership, like the High Priest, was able to convince some of the Jews to participate in the census. Others wanted to revolt and fight back against the Roman rule. One thing that could be agreed on, unless you were one of the socially elite in Israel, life was difficult and it wasn’t getting any easier.

The words of the angel, “good news of great joy” would have hit home for these shepherd boys. They were looking for some good news. They were looking for a source of joy because they certainly weren’t finding it in the world around them. Even some of the Jewish religious leaders themselves, like the Sadduccees, were corrupt and more like a mafia than having the best interest of the Jewish people at heart. This was truly a difficult and divided time that Jesus was born into.

However, political division. Disagreement on the right way forward. The rich getting richer. The elite using their power and authority to influence others. Does it really sound all that different from our world today? Is it really much different than the election season we walked through within the last couple months? Is it really all that different from things happening around the world in places like Ukraine, Israel, Syria and Iran. That’s why this announcement, this news, of Jesus being born was “good news of great joy” not just for the Jewish people 2000 years ago, but for us today as well.

“For all the people” - The Shepherds: Typically shepherding was based on a family business such as farming. The shepherds were typically the youngest sons of a family and were given the duty of taking care of the sheep so others in the family could carry out other duties of the farm. These young boys would have already received all of the schooling they were going to receive from the Jewish community. It was determined that they were not gifted enough to continue as a disciple of a rabbi (only a small percentage were chosen) and were sent back to their family to learn a trade. This wasn’t necessarily seen as disrespectful. But, at a young age, most likely before even becoming a teenager, the course of these boys' lives was already set. They would never be part of the elite. They most likely would never have the opportunity to be wealthy. The course of their life had already been determined. Being a shepherd was a difficult job and it was not very respected. The shepherds would have been considered unclean because they spent all of their time with dirty, smelly sheep. Because they spent so much time outside in harsh conditions they were almost never clean and often were not welcome to worship God with the rest of God’s people. They were often treated as outsiders. But their jobs were difficult. They had to protect their sheep from predators like wolves, bears and lions. They also had to lead their flock to good pastures with good food and water.

So isn’t it interesting that God sends an angel to announce the birth of Jesus, the long awaited Messiah, the most important night in human history, to a group of lowly, disrespected, unclean shepherd boys. They weren’t  among the spiritual or cultural elite. They had already been told they weren’t good enough for that type of recognition or leadership role within the community. They weren’t even the most important in their family. There were the youngest sons who could be spared and sent out to spend all of their time with sheep. But God says, that’s who I want to make this announcement to. It shows us a lot about God’s heart. When we know the context of the story and who the shepherds are in the story,  we understand that this truly was good news of great joy for “all the people”. This wasn’t  just good news for the religious leaders, the rich or the cultural high rollers. This news that the angel was delivering was truly for everyone.

But here’s what we need to understand this evening…it wasn’t just good news that one night 2000 years ago. It’s good news for each and every one of us tonight. It doesn’t matter what we do for a living. It doesn’t matter how much money we have or don’t have. It doesn’t matter if we have a lot of power and authority. It doesn’t matter what our title is. It doesn’t matter if culturally we are respected or not. What has happened in our past doesn’t change it. Our mess ups and failures don’t change it. Our doubt and fear don’t change it. the good news of Jesus coming to earth is good news for all people including every single person in this room tonight. And here’s why…

The final part of the story - The Name of Jesus: If you’re familiar with the beginning of the Christmas story with Jesus' mother and father Mary and Joseph. You know that in Luke 1 and Matthew 1 an angel appears to each of them to let them know that Mary will become pregnant and that they are to name the baby Jesus. A name chosen by God Himself and delivered to Mary and Joseph through an angel. Why is that important? The first thing we have to do is understand why we call Him Jesus. In the Bible, there are 2 different ways of translating between languages…based on meaning or based on the sound of the word. Translation vs transliteration. The name Jesus is not a translation, it’s a transliteration…NT is in Greek. Jesus did not speak Greek. He was Hebrew and His name in Hebrew was Yeshua which means “the one who saves”. The name comes from the Hebrew root word Yasha which means “to rescue, deliver or save".

So the reason this announcement from the angel to the shepherds is “good news of great joy for all the people” is because the child that is born is Jesus, Yeshua, the one who saves. The one who has come to rescue, deliver and save. That’s why the first thing the angel says to the shepherds is “fear not”. Now I’m sure the presence of the angel was quite a surprise and may have caused a little fear in the moment so I’m sure the angel was letting the shepherds know it was ok. But, bigger than that, the angel is saying, you don’t have to fear. You don’t have to worry and carry around doubt and anxiety. You don’t have to fix everything yourself because the Messiah, Jesus, is here and has come to rescue, deliver and save.

Now we have one big benefit that the shepherds didn’t have. They only knew what was happening in the moment. They would have known the stories of a promised Messiah but they didn’t know what that was going to look like. In those days they most likely expected an earthly king or military leader that would free them from the Roman empire because that was the struggle in the moment. But God’s plan was so much bigger. We have the advantage of the rest of the story through the lens of scripture. We know that Jesus grew up, lived a sin free life, had a 3 year ministry with His disciples, then died on the cross taking on the punishment and penalty of sin for the entire world. 3 days later He rose from the grave conquering sin and death and making a way for forgiveness of sin, salvation and eternity with Him in heaven. The amazing thing about all of it. All He wants is our heart. All He wants is for us to believe in Him, and to follow Him by living  according to His Word.

That is the good news of great joy for all people that the angel was talking about. I started off our message time talking about how the Christmas story can flip our perspective on how we look at our lives. And believe me I get it. I worry. I have doubt. I have faced anxiety in my life. I have tried to fix things on my own. I have tried to live my life on my own terms only to be frustrated that it never works out the way I plan it. But when we can flip our perspective to a Kingdom perspective, to a heavenly perspective, to understand that we are not alone and that we have Emmanuel God with us. Jesus, the One who saves and rescues and delivers. We can let go. We can let go of that fear, doubt and anxiety. We can let go of the stress that we carry because Jesus brought “good news of great joy for all people”. And that good news is that this life is only temporary and when we place our faith in Jesus, we have the promise of eternity with Him. It gives us hope and a future beyond anything this world has to offer or can throw at us.

So let me encourage every single person in the room tonight from the youngest to the oldest,  to allow the Christmas story to change your perspective. No matter what has happened in your life. No matter what mistakes you have made. The good news of great joy is for you. Jesus, Yeshua, the One who saves is for you.

PRAY

O holy Child of Bethlehem,

descend to us, we pray;

cast out our sin and enter in;

be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels,

the great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us,

our Lord Emmanuel!