Hope for the Holiday
Notes
Transcript
Hope for the Holiday
Hope for the Holiday
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
Christmas season is a season that tells and relays the story of Christ… The Messiah, the Savior of the World...
But do people really understand what that means?
As a child I grew up - not in a religious home - we didn’t go to church - there was no heritage or history of church, but I knew that Christmas was about the story of Jesus being born.
Did this story of Jesus being born have meaning? Absolutely, but not really to me, because it was only informational - it was academic - it wan’t personal...
This week I was in a meeting with a man who was working in a hospital and a child came in by ambulance that was suffering from a gunshot wound...
the stresses of life are always hard, but when a child is involved, the level of stress and pressures rise tremendously...
This child came into ER, and they knew that the child was not going to survive… When the parents arrived, the hospital administration would not allow the parents to enter the hospital and spend those last few moments with the child because of their covid policies...
The family had a different connection to the situation than did the hospital administration...
How each person in this event responded is bases on their relationship to the child...
Personally, academically, procedurally -
from those parents and family members who were intimately connected to those who were not connected at all -
When you know people, when you experience life with people, there is a different response to the information that is being given, and the response to that information is processed differently.
If all I know about Christmas is the accounts of a Jewish history lesson...
Is it a folk story?
Is it reality?
Is it meaningful?
And for me, I believed the story of Jesus being born and laid in a manger was accepted as reality, but that didn’t change anything in my life...
There was nothing more than just information, and christmas as a result was about:
Family
Friends
Food
Fun -
gifts / giving & receiving
But Christmas was not about Christ....
Now - in luke 2, we find the Shepherds had received some information from the Angel...
They had seen, they had heard, they had responded, they had acted...
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
The shepherds had conveyed what they had witnessed, and now we find others who are faced with a decision of what they are going to do with this information...
Fear Not
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
The Lord’s coming was not to bring fear
The Lord’s coming was:
Good tidings
Great joy
As the message of the Savior’s coming is shared, fear is not the focus of the message - they were told - Fear Not...
For…for unto you is born this day -
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Jesus was born
The Messiah
The Christ
Jesus
“A Savior”
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Jesus was not merely an innocent child, Jesus is God - manifested as God’s Son
He came to save us from our sins...
He came to deliver us from the consequences of our sins...
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Find the Babe
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
the shepherds heard these instructions...
They shared what they saw and heard...
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
It’s a second hand story...
The events have passed...
Did the real truth change?
These that heard wondered....
they wondered at what they were told...
They were processing the information - determining what to do with the info...
It’s Christmas time...
The Savior is willing to extend his gift of Salvation, but you have to receive it...
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
some are here today, and the story of Christmas is as personal as the connection that little boy and his parents had...
But to some - the story of Christmas is just academic...
No real meaning
No real relation
No acceptance...
Just like those who the shepherds told their story to…
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
Still wondering
still considering
still waiting
no decision
no choice
no action...
But the decision to do nothing is a decision to reject Christ...