MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(REVISED: 2015)
(Powerpoints used with this message are available at no charge. Just email me at mnewland@sstelco.com and request #280.)
TEXT: Luke 2:1-20
We begin our Christmas message this morning with Luke 2:6-20.
"While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, & she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped Him in strips of cloth & placed Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, & the glory of the Lord shone around them, & they were terrified.
"But the angel said to them 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth & lying in a manger.'
"Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God & saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, & on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.'
"When the angels had left them & gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go to Bethlehem & see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'
"So they hurried off & found Mary & Joseph, & the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, & all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
"But Mary treasured up all these things & pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying & praising God for all the things they had heard & seen, which were just as they had been told."
ILL. There is an old TV commercial that shows a man looking at a bowl of corn flakes & saying, "This looks pretty boring to me, pretty common, pretty ordinary."
After pouring in some milk & sugar he tastes it & says, "Hmm, I like it. It's really pretty good. What is it?" The announcer answers, "Kellogg's Corn Flakes."
Then the guy says, "You really got me on that. I hate it when you do that." Then we hear the announcer saying, "Kellogg's Corn Flakes Taste them again for the first time."
PROP. Maybe that is one of our problems with Christmas. Christmas is such a familiar & common experience that we almost miss it. So this year I challenge you to see it again for the first time.
I. THAT WHICH IS ORDINARY
Now there are some things in the Christmas story which are very ordinary.
A. For example, the passage that we just read reminds us that a census was being taken. And the purpose of the census was to make it easier to collect taxes. That's pretty common. Almost everybody pays taxes.
B. Then there's Joseph, a carpenter. Now most of us wouldn't consider ourselves carpenters at all. But who here has not swung a hammer, or tried to saw a board? So in one way we can identify with Joseph, can't we?
C. There is also the little town of Bethlehem. Bethlehem's only claim to fame was that it was the home town of King David, & out on its hillsides David wrote his psalms & watched his sheep. It was just an ordinary town.
D. Then there's Mary, who came from just an ordinary family. But there was a purity about her, something that impresses you & causes you to respect her. Other than that, she was just a girl from Nazareth.
F. There's also a pregnancy mentioned. That's pretty common, too.
SUM. People & places & things - all very common & ordinary. And they unite to begin the Christmas story. And yet, God is able to take the ordinary things of life & do wonderful things with them.
II. THAT WHICH IS EXTRAORDINARY
But as we decide to see it again for the first time, we realize that other parts of the story are extraordinary, & cannot be explained in any other way except by the power of God.
A. For instance, there are the angels. The Bible tells us that a great company of them appeared in the sky the night Jesus was born, praising God & announcing His birth. It must have been a wonderful sight, but most of the time we don't see angels, or hear them.
Yet on this night, when Jesus was born, they appear. And "The Living Bible" says that "the landscape shone bright with the glory of the Lord." (Luke 2:9) What an extraordinary sight that must have been!
B. Then there's an extraordinary star! Stars are ordinary, but not this one. It is an unusual star, an extraordinary star.
ILL. I enjoy reading comic strips. A number of years ago, John Hart's "B.C." strip pictured two guys wandering across the desert at night. And on the sand before them was a shadow of the cross.
One of them said, "Did you see? That star made a shadow." The other one said, "Stars can't make shadows unless there is a brighter light behind them, like the sun." The other one responded, "Yes, a brighter light like the Son."
C. Then there is a birth, a virgin birth, a miraculous birth. We can't explain it biologically, but with God all things are possible. And it reminds us how close heaven & earth really are.
Sometimes I wonder, "How far did Jesus travel? What is the distance between heaven & earth? Did He come light years? Did He travel through eons of time? How long did it take Him to get here?"
Usually, most people think of heaven as being someplace far away. But this year, as we look at it again, I'm becoming more & more convinced that heaven is only a breath away, that it is just a step over into the extraordinary where God is, & where He is waiting for us.
ILL. During the past two weeks I have been reading the book, "Imagine Heaven" by John Burke. It is very interesting & thought-provoking.
The cover states that it is about: "Near-Death Experiences, God's Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You." It is a study of hundreds of reports of "Near-Death" experiences, along with a careful comparison of what the Bible has to say about heaven, & hell, too.
And, as I said, I no longer think of heaven as being far away. I believe it is as close as a breath away. And I believe there are real & wonderful, & sometimes frightening, lessons we can learn from many genuine near-death experiences.
Now, I don't know how this may affect you, but for me it has taken away what little fear of death I may once have had. It's just a step from this life to that one, to that place of eternal light & no more pain or suffering or sorrow anymore.
APPL. You know, one of the mistakes we make at Christmas is that sometimes we get so caught up in the busyness of it that people lose their extraordinary qualities. People become just ordinary, like grains of sand.
The cashier becomes a hand that has money in it. The clerk becomes a voice with information. And the child becomes the inconvenience that always wants something.
ILL. Back in 1994, after more than 75 years of strict indoctrination in godless Communism, the Russian Dep't of Education suddenly began to invite American educators to come & teach morals & ethics (based on Biblical principles) in Russian schools, colleges, prisons, & orphanages.
As the Christmas season approached, two teachers went to an orphanage & discovered that the orphans had never heard the Christmas story. So they told them about Mary & Joseph arriving in Bethlehem & finding no room in the inn - then about them going to the stable, where Jesus was born & placed in a manger.
Throughout the story, according to one of the Americans, “the children sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edge of their stools, trying to grasp every word.”
Then each child was given 3 small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manager. Each child was also given a little paper square, cut from yellow napkins which the children tore into little strips & carefully laid in the manger for straw.
Small squares of flannel cut from a thrown-away nightgown were used for a baby’s blanket. And finally, each child was given a piece of tan felt to make into a doll-like baby.
As they made their way around the room observing the children working on their projects, one of the Americans noted, “All went well until I got to one table where little Misha sat. He looked to be about 6 years old & had finished his project.
"As I looked at the little boy’s manger, I was startled to see, not one but two babies in the manger. Quickly, I called for the translator to ask the lad why there were two babies in the manger.
"The translator said that Misha very accurately repeated the story he had heard until he came to the part where Mary put Jesus in the manger. Then Misha started to ad-lib, making up his own ending to the story.
He said, “And when Mary laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me & asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no momma & no papa, so I don’t have any place to stay."
"Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn’t because I didn’t have a gift to give him like everybody else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. Then I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift."
"So I asked Jesus, 'If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?' And Jesus told me, 'If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.' So I got into the manger, & then Jesus looked at me & he told me I could stay with him – for always.”
As little Misha finished his story, his eyes filled with tears that splashed down his cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table & his shoulders shook as he sobbed & sobbed.
In his own mind little Misha had found someone who would never abandon or abuse him, someone he could stay with – for always!” (From JIM KANE, Sermon Central)
One message of Christmas is that God comes into our world & says, "Ordinary people are never just ordinary." When God touches them they're special, created in God's image extraordinary & ordinary blended together, reminding us that heaven & earth are so close together.
III. THERE ARE CONTRASTS
Finally, we also see that the Christmas story is filled with contrasts.
A. First of all, look at King Herod. In him we see anger & hatred, fear & paranoia - all rolled up in one person.
Historians say that when Jesus was born, Herod was about 80 years old. He couldn't have lived much longer, & yet he felt threatened by the birth of a baby. So threatened was he that he ordered every male child 2 years old & younger in Bethlehem to be killed. How could anyone be that cold, that hard, that uncaring?
But then we see Simeon. He, too, was about 80 years old. Yet Simeon showed up at the temple every day, waiting & longing for the coming of the Messiah. Every day he was there, rain or shine, watching for the moment when he could hold that baby in his arms. Just look at the contrast between Herod & Simeon!
B. How about the contrast between the shepherds & the wise men? The wise men were rich, influential, educated, people of position & power who traveled a long distance following God's extraordinary star.
But the shepherds had nothing. They couldn't bring gifts of gold, frankincense, & myrrh. All they could do was bring themselves. Yet they are there because they heard God's message, too.
C. There is also a contrast between the manger & hospitals today. We need to see that manger again, to hear the sounds of the animals, & see the spiders spinning their webs, the mice crawling across the rafters.
We need to look at that manger & realize that it is in a feeding trough where Jesus spends His first night in a feeding trough for animals.
Look at Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, lying in a feeding trough. Then look at the kings who wear crowns, who ride in limousines, who wave scepters, & rule with great power. What a contrast!
And the contrasts are still here today, just as vivid as they have ever been.
ILL. Fred Craddock told the story of a missionary (Oswald Goltar) sent to India near the end of World War 2. After many months the time came for his furlough. So his church wired him the money to book passage on a cargo ship home.
But when he got to the port city he discovered a boatload of Jews had just been allowed to land temporarily. Those were the days when European Jews were sailing all over the world seeking places to live, & these particular Jews were now staying in attics & warehouses & basements all over that port city.
It happened to be Christmas, & on Christmas morning, Oswald went to one of the attics where Jews were staying. He walked in & said, "Merry Christmas."
The people looked at him as if he were crazy & responded, "We’re Jews." "I know that," he replied. "What would you like for Christmas?" In utter amazement, the Jews responded, "Well, we would like pastries, good pastries like the ones we used to have in Germany."
So Oswald went out & used his ticket money to buy pastries for all the Jews he could find staying in the port. Of course, he then had to wire home asking for more money to book his passage back to the States.
His superiors wired back, asking what happened to the money they had already sent. He wired that he had used it to buy Christmas pastries for some Jews.
They wired back, "Why did you do that? They don’t even believe in Jesus." He wired back, "Yes, but I do." (From Victor Yap, Sermon Central, "God’s Friend")
CONCL. The miracle of Christmas is that God takes just ordinary things & transforms them into extraordinary things - If we'll just walk with Him, & talk with Him, & let others see Him in us.
INVITATION - This morning, if you are here outside of Jesus Christ, we give you the opportunity to accept Him as your Lord & Savior. So we extend His invitation. Will you come as we stand & as we sing?
