Christmas Eve - Joy for the Outcast
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Well I hope at this point all your Christmas shopping is done, or maybe just as done as it is going to be.
I wonder how many of you embarked on a quest this year…a quest to find the perfect gift for someone. You’ve heard that expression before, “I’ve found so and so the perfect gift” or maybe you have said it yourself…maybe you are sitting there tonight optimistic, perhaps even overly confident that you have done it…you have braved the malls and shopping areas like a suburban Indiana Jones.
You’ve jumped over speeding shopping carts, darted in and out of people obliviously standing in the aisles talking on their phones, you’ve made it to the front of the long checkout lines…you are amazing and you know it.
Hopefully this describes none of you in here, but some people just go absolutely nuts trying to find the perfect gift. Like the lady who when trying to beat out other customers for a discounted video-game console, did what any sane person would do. She pepper sprayed the fools who got in her way.
Or as one store employee recalls three grandmothers getting into a fist-fight over a single Furby toy for their respective grandchildren. For those too young to remember, a Furby is an electronic "pet" that was, for a brief period, the most sought-after holiday gift in the world.
To get their hands on one, the women got into a "full-on brawl, rolling around on the floor, kicking and punching."
Or the time when it was an hour before a mall was scheduled to close on Christmas Eve and violence erupted at a kid's clothing store between two angry customers, one of whom pulled out a gun.
The police were called and the mall's stores were put on lockdown, but many of the customers weren't afraid for their lives, they were just "angry they were unable to finish their shopping," recalls one former mall employee. As he tried to get customers to lie on the floor and cover their heads, he says, "one woman yelled at me to finish her transaction."
But, allow me to let you in on a little secret...you are not giving someone the perfect gift this year. You see, playstations break…diamonds get lost…hoverboards burst into flames…and yes, even ponies one day…well, you know.
We want that perfect gift to meet a need, meet a desire, and have a huge impact on someone. But in reality, material things have a hard time living up to those expectations. Don’t get me wrong…giving gifts is good and joyous and loving…and special. But, its all fleeting in some sense.
But, when God gives a gift...it is by its very nature the perfect gift. So tonight, I want to share with you why Jesus is God’s perfect gift to us. To do that, I’d like to focus on: Luke 2:8-20
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.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
15 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.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Joy for the Outcast
Joy for the Outcast
I think its important we understand who these shepherds were.
The reality is, we tend to go off on extremes when talking about the shepherds. In one sense we tend to romanticize them. Look at our nativity plays and nativity sets…how many little boys get a pillow case draped over their head and a staff put in their hand and then be told to stand there and smile?
But then on the other extreme, the shepherds get a really bad rap. In fact, I’ll admit I’ve preached with that emphasis before.
We read in commentaries and other sources that Shepherds were rough men. They lived outdoors among the sheep. So, physically they were dirty, and probably had quite an odor about them.
Because they lived that way, they were considered ceremonially unclean according to the Mosaic law. They were just one notch above lepers in the social strata of the time…their testimony was not admissible in court.
But to be perfectly honest, there is very little biblical or historical support for those statements. Hatred for the shepherds really comes from two primary sources…Aristotle and the Babylonian Talmud. Neither source can really give us a good idea of shepherds in 1st century Israel.
Aristotle lived 300 years before Jesus…and he lived in Greece. Yes, he wrote horrible things about shepherds but it is both chronologically and culturally far removed from Bethlehem.
The Talmud was Jewish…but it was complied 200 years or more after Jesus’ resurrection. So again, its far removed from the time period.
So, what were these guys really like? Well, all we can do is infer from the Scriptures…and here is what we can infer...
They were hard working men who lived among the sheep. They led them to feeding areas, protected them from predators, and care for them. Since they lived among the animals, they lived outside of the city walls. They were outsiders…they were poor…they were dirty...
Were they absolutely despised and seen as subhuman? No, probably not. Were they clean and tidy like the little boys in the plays? No, not that either.
What the Bible is clear about is that these shepherds were the only recipients of this message that night...
That God decided to bring this announcement to these men.
By definition they were outcasts…they didn’t live among normal society. They did jobs no one wanted…they worked hard…and were generally forgotten.
Yet, on that night they became the recipients of news that could only be described as purely joyous.
And I wonder whether you ever feel like the shepherds…outcast, marginalized, forgotten.
You ever feel like the world and time is rushing by you at lightning speed and you are left standing still?
Whether that is you or not…you probably know someone that feels that way.
And the message the angel brings to the shepherds…this good news of great joy…is still as good and joyous as it was 2000 years ago in a field outside of Bethlehem. It really is the perfect gift.
Just think, without this revelation by the angel to the shepherds, the birth of Christ would have gone unnoticed.
Bethlehem was asleep…they had rejected this poor pregnant woman and her husband and forced them to give birth in a dirty, dark stable. This time of the year, there is a lot of talk about gifts being rewards for good behavior…but when God’s gift is different.
I want to focus on verse 11 in particular, as the angel describes exactly who this child is.
Luke 2:11
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Unto you…the angel means you the shepherds! Outside of Jesus’ own family, the only people who knew he was born were the lowest class of people…outcasts…but the verse before says it was good news for all the people, this refers specifically to the people of Israel, but Simeon’s prophesy reminds us that Jesus is not just God’s gift to the Jews, but to the entire world.
Jesus is the perfect gift because he is the provision, the promise, and the power. Let’s see how verse 11 shows him as the provision, the promise, and the power.
So, lets look at verse 11 a little more closely. First, the angel says Jesus is a Savior. If you have ever sinned against God you need a Savior, like it or not that includes everyone in this room.
To really appreciate the need for a Savior, you must understand the danger you are in. The angel said to Joseph
Matthew 1:21
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Only God can forgive sins against God. That is why God sent the eternal Son of God into the world, because he is God. That’s why Jesus said, “The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Therefore, a Savior was born.
Next, he is the promise. The angel said he is Christ. Christ is the English for Christos, which is means “anointed one,” which is the meaning of “Messiah.”
This is the one long-predicted, long-awaited, the one anointed above all others (Psalm 45:7). The final anointed King to sit on the throne of David. This is why we have been examining the Christmas story through the lens of the promised Son of David over the last 4 weeks…Jesus is the promise of the covenant God made with David.
2 Cor 1:20
20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
He would fulfill all the hopes and dreams of godly Israel. And more, so much more.
Lastly, he is the power. Not only is he the Christ, but he is Christ the Lord. The ruler, the sovereign, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. The Lord of the universe.
Isaiah 9:6-7
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Jesus is God in the flesh. Remaining what He was, He became what He was not in order to be our salvation. As JI Packer put it, Christ “was not now God minus some elements of his deity, but God plus all that he had made his own by taking manhood to himself.”
Jesus is our provision, the promise, and the power of God for our Salvation. He is Emmanuel, God with us.
My friends, tomorrow many of us will be giving and receiving gifts. And yes, some of them will be in your eyes the perfect gift. But, above all…the greatest gift was given to this world some 2,000 years ago.
Joy for the Outcast
Joy for the Outcast
What we see in the miracle of Christmas is the reality of God’s unconditional love in pursuing us…in sacrificing everything for us…in a genuine desire to be with us forever so much that he sent Jesus. I read a quote this week…”a thousand times in history, a baby has become a king…but only once has a king become a baby.”
You see, it is easy to miss the true meaning of Christmas…and that phrase the “true meaning of Christmas” has become almost cliché in our time. But losing the true meaning of Christmas isn’t ultimately saying Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays…it isn’t lost in nativity scenes being prohibited…it isn’t ultimately lost in the commercialism of the day. We lose the true meaning of Christmas when we live as though it is unnecessary.
We lose Christmas, we make it unnecessary when we think we deserve it.
We want peace on earth, good will to men without the reality of the cross of Jesus and the debt of sin he paid for all of us.
We lose Christmas when we think we take God’s love for granted, without considering his holiness and his justice.
But the truth is, moralism makes Christmas unnecessary. If we were good enough to earn God’s favor…if it were even possible to earn God’s favor by doing good and living a pure life…there would have been no reason for God the Son to leave Heaven and take on human flesh on that first Christmas day.
But God’s Word tells us that none are righteous, and none are able to do enough good or earn their own salvation. But because God is so infinitely loving, he sent Jesus to be the provision, to fulfill the promise, and to be the power for our salvation. He sent Jesus, because only Jesus could be the perfect gift.
The real meaning of Christmas isn’t just remembering the birth of Jesus…it is believing both who he is and why he came.
God is holy, and we are not.
But, in order to be accepted by God and to be with God both now and forever…we too must be holy like him…but we’re not.
So God fulfilled his promise that he made throughout the Old Testament in sending Jesus…the second person of the Trinity…the Son of God…to become a human being.
So God in the flesh comes and lives among us, as one of us…he lives a perfect life in perfect obedience to the Father…and though he never committed a sin, he was crucified and endured the punishment you and I deserve for our sins…he endured that for us…that those who believe in Him are united to him in faith…therefore in God’s eyes we died with Him on the cross, we were buried with him in the tomb, and we were raised with Him on that glorious resurrection day…and because of faith we can be united to him forever.
Jesus truly is the provision, the promise, and the power…and he is the only one who could be all three of those things.
This Christmas, that promise is for you. Jesus Christ was born those 2000 some years ago to fulfill God’s promise to rescue his people from their sins. His greatest motivation was his love...and it is that love for his chosen people, both Jew and Gentile alike that is our only true source of peace, hope, and joy.
This Christmas, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe that this baby was truly God in the flesh and came to fulfill God’s promise to mankind to send a savior who would cancel the debt of sin and redeem his people for new life and life eternal with God.
Tonight see the glory of God in Jesus Christ…he is your only real provision for your sin, he is the only one who has fulfilled God’s promises…and he is the only one with the power to raise himself from the dead and unite all those who trust in Him alone unto himself.
This Christmas, see God’s gift to you in the Lord Jesus Christ…see him in His glory and in His beauty…and trust in Him alone for your salvation.