Dec 24th - Christmas Eve 2020

Christmas Snapshots Pastor Gary Schultz (Christmas Eve Transcription) I don’t know if you remember way back, but there was a cartoon named Family Circus. And the reason it was called Circus was because they would get into the most amazing stuff. I’ll just leave it at that. And the one I remember was around Christmas, and the youngest girl – I forget her name – was looking into the bottom drawer, and above her was probably one of the most beautiful, precious, most beautiful manger scenes made out of wood. It was great. It had the manger, the star was above, and the shepherds were on the side. And the little girl had a puzzling look on her face, and she looks up from the drawer and says, “Mommy, why is Jesus in the drawer down here?” And I thought about that, because you’re here tonight. You’re here to worship the Christ child. You’re here to come before His table. You’re here to celebrate not only His life, but the life He brings to us. And now, when you think about it, has that been what it’s been like the last month or two? You went into Fleet Farm and the toys were out in October. I think sometimes, our priorities aren’t where they need to be. But that’s why we’re here tonight. That’s why we’re here to sing and talk about His Glory. That God so loved us, that the word became flesh and became incarnate and dwells with us, with all of His glory. I often wonder what it would be like if we could take our cameras, iPhones now, and do some snapshots of the time down there. I’d like to talk to you about three snapshots. And the first is this gentleman here, and that’s Caesar Augustus. Now, in the Christmas account, we read that in those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. It was the first census that took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone went to his own town to register. Now, you have to understand Caesar Augustus with his purple robes, and what he means to the people of the day. His mother, apparently, was impregnated by Apollos, the serpent, and therefore, he is a god. When he drove his chariot down on the way here, thousands of Romans would bow to the ground. Not kneel but bow to the ground in homage to Caesar Augustus. He was the most powerful man on the earth. And it always intrigues me how God works through people who seem to think they’re It. Think about it in this sense. This census: where Caesar Augustus, he wanted to tax everybody, so they had to count everybody, right? So here it is: Mary and Joseph are in Nazareth. Bethlehem is 90 miles away, but Joseph is of the house and lineage of David – we’ve read that in other accounts. And so they traveled the 90 miles on this burrow, this donkey. And remember King James says she was great with child. So, unwittingly, Caesar Augustus – and I’m not even sure that Mary and Joseph understood what was going on – they were fulfilling Micah 5:2 where the prophets said hundreds of years earlier that the Christ child, the Savior was going to be born in Bethlehem. There’s two things here. There’s this Latin term for the son of god, and ironically, that’s the term that Caesar Augustus took. If you think about it, notice how I have it up there. Small “s” under son and small “g” under god. Because when the angel Gabriel came to Mary, what did he say? “You shall call His name Jesus, because He will save people from their sin. And He will be the son of the most high God.” Capital G. But the other part about Caesar Augustus that he unwittingly came about, was the term Pax Roma, Latin for peace of Rome. Just before Caesar Augustus came into power, there was a period of peace, and that peace lasted for 200 years. And during that period of peace, roads were built, aqueducts, a lot of different things that the Roman empire was known for. In fact, if you go to Europe – hopefully when this COVID is going to be over – my wife and I have had the privilege to go to Frankfurt and Salzburg and you still see Roman roads – they were that well-built. You go to Italy, and the aqueducts still bring water to the villages. But here’s the deal: what happened on Pentecost? Peter’s preaching to all those people in Mesopotamia and all those other countries we can’t pronounce. And what happens after that? They all spread out. Going on what roads? Unwittingly again, Caesar Augustus becomes the great Evangelist, understood correctly. As that word - when all across the Pagan Roman Empire, and it wasn’t too long later, just a few hundred years, and they became the Holy Roman Empire. Because of the Holy Spirit working and the Gospel there. So, that’s our first snapshot: Caesar Augustus. Our second is the manger scene. And it would help to understand the manger scene – I want to tell you this thing I read in Philip Nancy’s book. He talked about when Queen Elizabeth II came to the United States. And the press really had a field day, because she had 4,000 pounds of luggage. She had two outfits for every occasion, and if you know anything about Queen Elizabeth II, I don’t know how many hats I’ve seen her in, so I don’t even know how many hats she brought. And then 40 pints of plasma – what, did she think she was going to get in an accident or what? We couldn’t figure that out. And then she had her hairdresser, two valets, and a whole entourage. In fact, as they reported on it, they said that for her to just come over for a royal visit to the United States, or to really any country, it cost millions of dollars. Now, let’s think about that. Go back to the manger scene, which in all honesty is an animal shelter. It’s a barn. It smells like a barn. There are no hairdressers. There are no valets. There’s no entourage. And Mary and Joseph put the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in a food trough. The contrast is striking. What’s interesting about that is that’s why Christmas is so much to every level of our culture and our society. Because Jesus didn’t come in a mansion. He was born of poor peasants. Yet, it was of the house and lineage of David. We think about the poor, the least, and in medieval times, Christians would put a candle in their window. Because tradition had it that Jesus was going to come, and they weren’t sure what He was going to come as. He could have been the person with disabilities sitting over here. He could have been the homeless one over there. Homeless and hungry. He could have been the one right here in front, who, man, I could smell him from here. Yet, on that night, because they lit the candle on Christmas night, they never refused anyone. Because they weren’t sure if it was the Christ child that would come. So, everyone understood the grace and the love of God. Because it was put into light just as we call Him the Light of the World, the Light of Faith was shared at that time. Now, I’m not telling you to go home and light a candle and put it in your window. But you might want to light a candle and put it in your heart. The last snapshot is of the shepherds. And the children’s message – they did a great job with that. I really liked that. But remember who the shepherds were. They didn’t go into town much. They stayed with the sheep. They didn’t wash much. They were who they were. Yet, it was interesting, because that’s the first people that God comes to announce the birth of His son. At our house, we try to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas. And the intriguing thing about that is – and I’ve got the picture here – Linus never goes without his blanket. Never. Until he’s reciting what I’m reading to you today. He gets to this part. “And the angels said to them, ‘do not be afraid,’ in other words, ‘fear not. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born. Jesus Christ. And this will be a sign to you. You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’” And in the movie, when he says, “Fear not!” notice where his blanket lands. And for the rest of his monologue, he’s talking about what the angels said. That’s really the message of Christmas: fear not about sin. Fear not about the devil. Fear not even about death. Because all that has been taken care of. We are His people. We are the ones, when we talk about Jesus and who He saves, because He has come to seek and to save the lost. That’s important, because, you see, part of our culture says if you’re good, that somebody with a little red hat and kind of overweight is going to come down and give you something. Hey, people. God didn’t wait until we were good. He knew that wasn’t going to happen this side of heaven. He came because He loves us. Pure and simple. That’s what was read: “and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” And we see all His glory. That’s what tonight is all about. That’s why we’re here. As Christians. As brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, those of you who have come these past few weeks during Advent, there was always something missing in the cradle, wasn’t there? Not anymore. We celebrate the fact that He’s come. All the candles are lit. And we, on this side of the cross, understand His promise hasn’t stopped. He not only came, but He will come again. He’s for this life we have today, but also for eternity. Praise God for that. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Now, may the peace that passes all understanding, preserve and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.