Pastor Cal Lord's Recent Sermons
The Wonder Of Christmas
Luke 2:1-20 December 15, 2002
Christmas means many things to many people. We all have our memories. We all have our
stories.
To merchants it is the busiest time of the year. Stores stay open longer, and 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 people it is a time of fun and parties. For children it is a
time of impatience, with time seeming to pass so slowly, as they wait for Christmas morning.
But what does 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?
Or What does Christmas means to the little man in Zimbabwe, 80 years old, living in a hut, who
knows nothing of shopping malls or Christmas trees?
Our reading in Luke gives us the answer to that question. You see, when you read between the
lines, you will find the true wonder of Christmas. In Luke 2 we hear the story laid out. It begins
with the journey to Bethlehem and then shifts to a remote hillside where shephereds were keeping
watch over their flocks.
It was to them that God’s angel came and 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 two very important and wonderful truths.
First off, in this announcement God says I know you and you are important to me. It tells us,
"No matter how insignificant you may think you are, God knows you, and you are important to
Him." These were shephereds, after all. They were men and women of no account. They were
often in the shadows and not taken seriously for anything. And yet God goes to them first with
this great news.
This isn’t unusual though. All throughout scripture we see God honoring and 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 it: A Jewish youth was sold into slavery by his brothers and 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 and
despised to show His power.
Or when Five thousand men, plus women & children, stayed late on a hillside one day, listening
to Jesus. There was one little boy who had 2 fish and 5 little loaves. But it was enough, because
God took that small amount and& 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 and beauty
parlors. He went past the furs and diamonds and gold, and went to an insignificant village called
Nazareth. He found a peasant girl. She did not dress in designer clothes. She did not have a
sophisticated education. But she was pure, and God selected her to be the mother of His only
begotten Son.
As a result, when the Jesus comes, He is not born in Mt. Sinai Hospital in Jerusalem, surrounded
by gynecologists, nurses & assistants. But rather, He is born in a stable, wrapped in swaddling
clothes and laid in a manger.
The world looks down its nose and says, "That’s foolishness." But Paul says, "The foolishness
of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength."
(1 Corinthians 1:25)
And when God makes His announcement, it is delivered to shepherds. It is like Jesus saying in
the Sermon on the mount, "If God cares about sparrows and lilies, then He cares about you." If
God cares about shepherds, He cares about you and me! We need to hear that, don’t we?
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 and empty need
to hear that. We all need to hear that.
Christmas comes. The light shines, and God says, "You think this is for the high and mighty?
No! You’re wrong. I made the announcement to shepherds, and I make it to you. Unto you a
Savior is born."
The second thing this passage teaches us is that life matters. Your life counts with God.
You can imagine those shepherds sitting around the campfire and wondering if life was really
worthwhile or not. "What difference does it make if we watch the sheep or not?"
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.
When God comes and makes His announcement to shepherds, He is also saying to us, "Your life
is important. It is My gift to you. Therefore live every golden moment of it, because your life
does matter to Me."
You see, it’s impossible to live, even for a few moments on this earth, and not influence
somebody in one way or another. We are always influencing someone, either for good or for bad.
Do you remember Bubba Smith? He retired from professional football a few years ago. Then,
after he retired from playing football, Bubba Smith started making beer commercials. He was the
guy who tore the top off of beer cans, and engaged in the argument about whether it is less
filling or tastes great.
In a magazine article about him, Bubba Smith said that he has never, ever drunk beer. Drinking
any kind of alcoholic beverage just isn’t a part of his life. But he advertised it and felt good about
his job. It was an easy job. It was fun, and it paid a good salary.
Until one day when he went back to Michigan State, his alma mater, as the Grand Marshal of the
Homecoming Parade. As he was riding in the limousine at the head of the parade, he heard the
throngs of people on both sides of the parade route shouting. And what were they shouting? "Hail
to Michigan State?" No! One side was shouting, "Tastes great!" and the other side was shouting,
"Less filling!"
Bubba Smith suddenly realized that he and the beer commercials that he made had had a
tremendous impact on the students at Michigan State. And the message that they had gotten was
that "It is all right to drink light beer."
Later, Bubba was in Ft. Lauderdale during Spring Break, and he saw drunken college kids up and
down the beaches, shouting "Tastes great! Less filling!"
And when it came time to renew his contract, he refused to sign because he said that he didn’t
want his life to count for something like that.
You see, everybody’s life counts for something.
Some years ago, a cartoon appeared in newspapers across the land. It pictured two farmers in
Kentucky, standing in a field as snow fell softly. One turned to the other & asked, "Anything
exciting happen today?" "Nah, nothing exciting," said the other farmer. "Oh, there was a baby
born over at Tom Lincoln’s home, but nothing exciting ever happens around here."
But that baby born in the home of Tom Lincoln one day became the President of the United
States. He changed the course of history & liberated the slaves. One life can make a difference!
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." Except that a baby was born,
a baby that changed the world.
You know, Life counts. Life matters. What we do is important. The wonder of Christmas is that
in the birth of Jesus, God is telling us that life has meaning. And God wants to be a part of our
lives.
God entered human history and in doing so, he validated life itself. So when you say “What’s the
point?” He says the point is that you can make a difference. Have you ever heard the poem “One
solitary life?” It goes like this:
And the truth is, that what you and I do, have an impact too. And Jesus made trhat clear at
Christmas. He said to the shephereds, keep up the good work. No one else may notice you, but
I have. And I will bless you for it. And he says the same to us. Praise God.
Luke 2:1-20 December 15, 2002
Christmas means many things to many people. We all have our memories. We all have our
stories.
To merchants it is the busiest time of the year. Stores stay open longer, and 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 people it is a time of fun and parties. For children it is a
time of impatience, with time seeming to pass so slowly, as they wait for Christmas morning.
But what does 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?
Or What does Christmas means to the little man in Zimbabwe, 80 years old, living in a hut, who
knows nothing of shopping malls or Christmas trees?
Our reading in Luke gives us the answer to that question. You see, when you read between the
lines, you will find the true wonder of Christmas. In Luke 2 we hear the story laid out. It begins
with the journey to Bethlehem and then shifts to a remote hillside where shephereds were keeping
watch over their flocks.
It was to them that God’s angel came and 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 two very important and wonderful truths.
First off, in this announcement God says I know you and you are important to me. It tells us,
"No matter how insignificant you may think you are, God knows you, and you are important to
Him." These were shephereds, after all. They were men and women of no account. They were
often in the shadows and not taken seriously for anything. And yet God goes to them first with
this great news.
This isn’t unusual though. All throughout scripture we see God honoring and 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 it: A Jewish youth was sold into slavery by his brothers and 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 and
despised to show His power.
Or when Five thousand men, plus women & children, stayed late on a hillside one day, listening
to Jesus. There was one little boy who had 2 fish and 5 little loaves. But it was enough, because
God took that small amount and& 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 and beauty
parlors. He went past the furs and diamonds and gold, and went to an insignificant village called
Nazareth. He found a peasant girl. She did not dress in designer clothes. She did not have a
sophisticated education. But she was pure, and God selected her to be the mother of His only
begotten Son.
As a result, when the Jesus comes, He is not born in Mt. Sinai Hospital in Jerusalem, surrounded
by gynecologists, nurses & assistants. But rather, He is born in a stable, wrapped in swaddling
clothes and laid in a manger.
The world looks down its nose and says, "That’s foolishness." But Paul says, "The foolishness
of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength."
(1 Corinthians 1:25)
And when God makes His announcement, it is delivered to shepherds. It is like Jesus saying in
the Sermon on the mount, "If God cares about sparrows and lilies, then He cares about you." If
God cares about shepherds, He cares about you and me! We need to hear that, don’t we?
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 and empty need
to hear that. We all need to hear that.
Christmas comes. The light shines, and God says, "You think this is for the high and mighty?
No! You’re wrong. I made the announcement to shepherds, and I make it to you. Unto you a
Savior is born."
The second thing this passage teaches us is that life matters. Your life counts with God.
You can imagine those shepherds sitting around the campfire and wondering if life was really
worthwhile or not. "What difference does it make if we watch the sheep or not?"
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.
When God comes and makes His announcement to shepherds, He is also saying to us, "Your life
is important. It is My gift to you. Therefore live every golden moment of it, because your life
does matter to Me."
You see, it’s impossible to live, even for a few moments on this earth, and not influence
somebody in one way or another. We are always influencing someone, either for good or for bad.
Do you remember Bubba Smith? He retired from professional football a few years ago. Then,
after he retired from playing football, Bubba Smith started making beer commercials. He was the
guy who tore the top off of beer cans, and engaged in the argument about whether it is less
filling or tastes great.
In a magazine article about him, Bubba Smith said that he has never, ever drunk beer. Drinking
any kind of alcoholic beverage just isn’t a part of his life. But he advertised it and felt good about
his job. It was an easy job. It was fun, and it paid a good salary.
Until one day when he went back to Michigan State, his alma mater, as the Grand Marshal of the
Homecoming Parade. As he was riding in the limousine at the head of the parade, he heard the
throngs of people on both sides of the parade route shouting. And what were they shouting? "Hail
to Michigan State?" No! One side was shouting, "Tastes great!" and the other side was shouting,
"Less filling!"
Bubba Smith suddenly realized that he and the beer commercials that he made had had a
tremendous impact on the students at Michigan State. And the message that they had gotten was
that "It is all right to drink light beer."
Later, Bubba was in Ft. Lauderdale during Spring Break, and he saw drunken college kids up and
down the beaches, shouting "Tastes great! Less filling!"
And when it came time to renew his contract, he refused to sign because he said that he didn’t
want his life to count for something like that.
You see, everybody’s life counts for something.
Some years ago, a cartoon appeared in newspapers across the land. It pictured two farmers in
Kentucky, standing in a field as snow fell softly. One turned to the other & asked, "Anything
exciting happen today?" "Nah, nothing exciting," said the other farmer. "Oh, there was a baby
born over at Tom Lincoln’s home, but nothing exciting ever happens around here."
But that baby born in the home of Tom Lincoln one day became the President of the United
States. He changed the course of history & liberated the slaves. One life can make a difference!
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." Except that a baby was born,
a baby that changed the world.
You know, Life counts. Life matters. What we do is important. The wonder of Christmas is that
in the birth of Jesus, God is telling us that life has meaning. And God wants to be a part of our
lives.
God entered human history and in doing so, he validated life itself. So when you say “What’s the
point?” He says the point is that you can make a difference. Have you ever heard the poem “One
solitary life?” It goes like this:
And the truth is, that what you and I do, have an impact too. And Jesus made trhat clear at
Christmas. He said to the shephereds, keep up the good work. No one else may notice you, but
I have. And I will bless you for it. And he says the same to us. Praise God.
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