A Season of Love. December 20/21, 2014 Pastor Jon Haakana

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1 A Season of Love December 20/21, 2014 Pastor Jon Haakana I wonder what Christmas means to a mother who has lost her husband, who must take care of 3 or 4 children, working every day, never quite getting everything done, never making ends meet? What does Christmas mean to her? I wonder what Christmas means to the 70-year-old man in Zimbabwe, living in a hut, who knows nothing of shopping malls or Christmas trees? What does Christmas mean to him? I wonder what it means to little Ethiopian and Sudanese children with smudges on their cheeks, & sparkling eyes that look up in wonder as you walk past? What does Christmas mean to them? I wonder what it means to missionaries who are half a world away from families & friends, who are sacrificing so much to take the precious gospel message to others who have never heard? What does it mean to them? I m sure that it means different things to different people. To merchants it is the busiest time of the year. Stores stay open longer, & hire extra people to accommodate all the shoppers. It means more profit, hopefully enough profit to see them through lean times ahead. For some employees it means a Christmas bonus, a little more money in their pockets to do things that they want to do. For many teen-agers & adults it is a time of fun & parties. For children it is a time of impatience, with time seeming to pass so slowly, as they wait for Christmas morning. But sometimes I get the feeling that we are like the folks who decided to throw a party to honor a very special friend. They sent out invitations, decorated the hall, & had the food catered. All the people came together at the designated time, but to their surprise, the guest of honor was not there. Finally, they made the embarrassing discovery that no one had ever invited the guest of honor. I wonder if that happens for some of us at Christmas time? Do we go through all the decorating, & buying presents, & preparing elaborate meals, but somehow forget whose birthday it really is? One family tried to overcome that by putting an extra place at their Christmas table for Jesus, & calling Christmas, "His birthday party." When one of their daughters was asked if she got everything she wanted for Christmas, she answered by saying, "No, but then it s not my birthday." It isn t our birthday, is it? It s the Lord s birthday & it s a time to remember His birth & what it is supposed to mean to us. The fact of who God first made the announcement of Christ s birth to, helps us to understand the real meaning of Christmas. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," & He chose to announce that to shepherds first of all. 1 P a g e

2 Shepherds were at the opposite end of the social strata from King Herod & all the influential people of the day. They lived in the fields with their animals. They weren t respected. They had no power or prestige. Yet, God s angel came to them & said, "Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ, the Lord." Unto shepherds a Savior was born. In that one simple announcement God made known some very important truths. I. GOD KNOWS YOU, AND YOU ARE IMPORTANT TO HIM First of all, it tells us, "No matter how insignificant you may think you are, God knows you, God loves you, & you are important to Him." All throughout scripture we see God honoring & using people & things that the world often overlooks or ignores. The Apostle Paul writes, "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world & the despised things..." (1 Cor. 1:26-28a). Think about some Biblical examples: A Jewish youth was sold into slavery by his brothers & carted off to Egypt. Yet, when God wanted to deliver a very special message to mighty Pharaoh, it was the slave, Joseph, who was brought out of the dungeon to interpret the message. God uses the lowly & despised to show His power. Five thousand men, plus women & children, stayed late on a hillside one day, listening to Jesus. There was no food & the people were hungry. Well, that is not totally accurate. There was one little boy who had 2 fish & 5 little loaves. But it was enough, because God took that small amount & fed the many. He is always doing that, isn t He? So when God decided to select a mother for His Son, He went past the fashion salons & beauty parlors. He went past the furs & diamonds & gold, & went to an insignificant village called Nazareth. He found a peasant girl and a teenager at that. She did not dress in designer clothes. She did not have a sophisticated education. But she was pure, & God selected her to be the mother of His only begotten Son. So when the Christ comes, He is not born in Mt. Sinai Hospital in Jerusalem, surrounded by gynecologists, nurses & assistants. But rather, He is born in a stable. He is wrapped in swaddling cloths & laid in a manger, an animal feeding trough. The world looks down its nose & says, "That s foolishness." But Paul says, "The foolishness of God is wiser than man s wisdom, & the weakness of God is stronger than man s strength." (1 Corinthians 1:25) 2 P a g e

3 When God makes His announcement, it is delivered to humble and lowly shepherds. It is like Jesus said in the His sermon on the mountain, "If God cares about sparrows & lilies, then He cares about you." If God cares about shepherds, He cares about you! We need to hear that, don t we? Children 12 & 13 years old that in orphanages need to hear that when they see younger children being adopted & realize that they probably never will be adopted. God loves them and cares about them.. Mothers of children without a husband to help need to hear that. Lost souls on skid row who drink away their fears need to hear that. People who are lonely need to hear that. Husbands who have lost their wives in death need to hear that. Church people who feel useless & empty need to hear that. We all need to hear that. All of us have known feelings of rejection. All of us have known feelings of being left out. Christmas comes. The light shines, & God says, "No! You re wrong. I made the announcement to shepherds, & now I make it to you. Unto you a Savior is born." II. YOUR LIFE MATTERS, BECAUSE GOD LOVES YOU The second thing this passage teaches us is that your life matters. Not only do you matter, but your life counts with God. I imagine those shepherds must have sat around the campfire many times & wondered if life was really worthwhile or not. "What difference does it make if we watch the sheep or not?" Maybe we wonder, too, "What difference does it make if I get up every morning or not? It seems as if my life is an endless cycle of things that really don t mean anything. I just wonder if life is worth living at all?" When God comes & makes His announcement to shepherds, He is also saying to us, "Your life is worthwhile. It is My gift to you. Therefore live every precious moment of it, because your life truly does matter to Me." You see, every life does matter. We should know that. It s impossible to live, even for a few moments on this earth, & not influence somebody in one way or another. We are always influencing someone, either for good or for bad. I wonder if there were people in Bethlehem on that night so long ago, asking, "Anything exciting happen today?" Maybe they were told, "No, nothing much. Oh, I hear some woman gave birth to a baby in a stable, but nothing exciting ever happens around here." 3 P a g e

4 Except that a baby was born, a baby that changed the world. A baby that changed your life forever Life counts. Life matters. Your life and mine. Lives of shepherds & lives of kings, all are important to God. All are loved by God. III. YOUR FAITH MATTERS, TOO Finally, this. Your faith matters, too. Shepherds were men of faith. They probably had more faith than some of the scribes & Pharisees who went to the synagogue every day. They believed in a Messiah. All of God s chosen people believed in a Messiah. When things got especially hard, during times of poverty & enslavement & exile, they would think about the Messiah & God s promise that one day the Messiah would come. They prayed over & over again, "Let the Messiah come. Let Him come today!" They prayed that prayer for hundreds of years, & they must have wondered, "Is our faith worth anything? Does God hear our prayers? Does God keep His promises? Will the Messiah ever come?" There must have been many who quit praying, & quit having faith. But when the announcement came to shepherds, God was saying, "Your faith matters, & it is not in vain. I am a God who hears & who keeps His promises. Now the Messiah has come, & I have kept My promise." How about us? Sometimes we become weary. There may be times when we wonder if it is worthwhile going to church. There are times when we wonder if it is worth sacrificing for God. There are times when I wonder if it is worth it to be a preacher. Maybe I ought to do something else. Why bother with all these responsibilities? Sometimes, when I feel weary, I pray, "Lord, why don t You come today? Why don t You come & take us all home, out of our misery & pain & hardships?" I ve heard some of you say almost the same thing. "Oh, come, Lord Jesus," we pray, "come quickly!" We wonder if our prayers are heard. We wonder why He is waiting so long. We wonder if it is worth it all. But one day He will come. He will come for all of us, shepherds & kings, wise men & peasants. He will come for His people. He ll dry our tears & take away our pain. There will be no more death, no more good-byes. Then we ll say, "It was worth it. It was worth it all!" Listen to the words of hymn #700 from our hymnal: "Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heav n to earth come down! 4 P a g e

5 Fix in us Thy humble dwelling, all Thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, Thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love Thou art; Visit us with Thy salvation; enter every trembling heart." Love came down at Christmas! In Jesus, Amen. 5 P a g e