We Interrupt This Year For A Special Announcement

Don’t Take Things So Personally

It is so easy to take things personally that were never intended that way. This week, my wife and I had a mini argument because I took something personal that wasn’t intended to be. Look at politics, social issues or covid precautions, none of those is necessarily personal but they can become person when we enter the issue with our heart and minds.

Today, I want you to enter this story with your heart and mind. I want you to take this story literally.

It is so easy to view history as something that does not apply to us. We read as a study instead of an interaction.

Let me give you an example.

If I read about how in the early Roman times, that culture was very conservative and had a fixed, rigid set of laws, I can begin to think about had hard that must have been.

Then if I further study how they continued to conquer nation after nation but progressively adopted more and more of the behaviors of those nations rather than keeping their narrow values and laws. As this happened, the culture of Rome became more and more liberal by nature. As that happened, the rule of law broke down and the authority of the leaders became compromised. This ultimately played a significant role int he demise of the Roman Empire.

If I read this just as history, it will lose it’s application and I will lose the lessons I am meant to learn. However, if I am willing to read it personally, and apply it as such, I can see the similarities and gain new perspectives that directly affect me now in my time.

The birth of Jesus is not just some historical fact that has no bearing on you today.

It Is To You Personally

It is a personal story as well.

Luke 2:8–17 ESV

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. 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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

per·son·al pro·noun /ˈpərs(ə)n(ə)l ˈprōˌnoun/

noun plural noun: personal pronouns each of the pronouns in English ( I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, and them ) comprising a set that shows contrasts of person, gender, number, and case.

We worship a Personal Savior

Revelation 3:20 ESV

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He came to die for Your Sins

1 John 2:2 ESV

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Definition of propitiation

1: the act of gaining or regaining the favor or goodwill of someone or something : the act of propitiating : APPEASEMENT

2: something that propitiates or appeases specifically : an atoning sacrifice

That sacrfice or appeasement is for Something and to Something

It is for You and it is to God

Remember Jesus came to die - He was born in the shadow of the cross

That is personal to him and it is personal to us.

Recap the Gospel

Consider the station of the shepherds and our station people

1 Corinthians 1:26 ESV

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

1 Corinthians 1:27–31 ESV

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

The shepherds are such a great example for us.

First, they heard the proclamation

Luke 2:10–14 ESV

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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Then, they believed the proclamation

Luke 2:15 ESV

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

Finally, they joined the proclamation

Luke 2:17 ESV

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

The angels gave them the message then, the Spirit gives us the message today.

John 15:26–27 ESV

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Today, we can make this message personal

First, we receive the Proclamation

Then, we can believe the Proclamation

Finally, we can join the Proclamation

We know this world today needs the interruption it received over 2000 years ago.

It is a message for you personally

It is a meant for you personally to believe

It is a message meant for you personally to join in.

Will this Christmas remain simply a historical holiday for you?

Or will you make it a personal one to you this year?