Excitement!

Morris said, I was thinking about this as you would expect the pastor to do this time of year. The more said about Christmas and the significance of this season than any other single theme throughout the year. So if you go back to January of this year and go forward, you will find that there’s just so much said about it. I thought, okay, some of you will know this because you were here then. Others, this will be new information to you.

But I just looked up my past titles of sermons. Now, I’ve been here 25 years, so rest assured, I’m not going to give you all 25. But here’s some past titles. Jesus is the reason for the season. You see that in posters because they took my words and made them into posters.

So finding meaning in the manger. That’s pretty good. It’s pretty good. You know, it’s very illiterated, but I’ve gotten over that. And then discovering blessings in the baby.

Okay, give me a break, people, for crying out loud, okay? And then here’s one, keep Christ in Christmas. All right, that works. You like? Okay, that’s good.

So I just chose today, excitement, all right? And I think along with all the Christmas sermons, most people have certain signs of their own. Probably you have them without even thinking, but a certain set of signs that tell you, oh, that’s right, summer’s done, falls fading, and Christmas has come, right? So I made a short list, but certainly for many, this is on your list. It’s when that section at Costco appears.

You know what I’m talking about? Sometime in late spring now, it appears. You know, it’s been there a long time, and for those of us that just want to mind our own business and graze when we go to Costco, there’s these toys that are barking at us and telling us, buy me, buy me, be the first, don’t be left out on all that kind of stuff. So that would be one on my list. And then I know some, my family from when I was a child, and I continue this, Debbie and I, and our kids growing up, was when you could start to drive around the neighborhood and notice Christmas lights, right?

Isn’t that cool? And you could, you could just, you know, my dad, when we were little, he’d pull into a driveway of a house that’s especially lit up, and he would just, he would just wail on his horn until the people inside came to the front porch, and then we would back out of the driveway and be on our way. So I learned it there, and my dad also let out this, we’d come around a corner, and there’s the house, you know, sort of the Griswold house from Christmas vacation, it’s like, and he would go, woo hoo! And I will lose my voice if I do that twice. Morning, so.

But topping my list is music. K-103, Portland’s, oh are you kidding me, am I the only one listening? Portland’s Christmas station, right? It’s known as their Christmas station, and, and, but this year I have a question. How many times do I have to hear?

This year, to save me some tears, I’ll give it to someone special, right? That’s the song, and I’ve lost count. I’m in the double digits, approaching triple digits of how many times I’ve heard that, and I want to say to the person that originally sang it, yeah, like that’s gonna work, right? You gave away your heart, it got smashed, and this year you’re gonna give it to somebody that’s like, not gonna do the same thing to you, we get real. It’s, it’s like, my advice, if they were sitting here right now, I’d say, get over it, okay?

You’ve been singing this song a long time, and I’m done hearing it, okay. So, kidding aside, the general tenor of Christmas, I would use the word that I chose for my title today, excitement. There’s excitement in it, in the air, it’s, it’s usually what we feel each time as we come in for a closer look. Your look, I have to turn around and see what you are seeing, and I’m only sorta in the way at different times on a Sunday in December, because we come in for a closer look, and when we do, we sneak a peek, we sneak a peek at something that’s rare, and, and, incredibly unusual, and, and, and it resulted then, and it results still in a very high level of excitement. And, unless you’re one of those weird ones, you know, and you insist it’s commercialized in who cares, and that makes you something close to Scrooge.

So, here’s a thought that should move us. I’m gonna read a quote to you right now that is captured by Christmas, and it’s very unusual wording, and if you’re in the practice of writing things down, this would be a keeper for you. This might even be a good conversation starter, or certainly something you can add in a conversation if you’re at a Christmas dinner or party or something like that. It’s not gonna wreck the fun. This is actually gonna cause people to go, did you come up with that, and you can claim it as your own, here it is.

A thousand times in history, a baby became a king. A thousand times in history, a baby grew up and became a king. But only once, just once in history, did a king become a baby. Said the person you shared that with. Only once, just once in history, did a king become a baby.

And two gospels of the four tell us of the birth of this king who became a baby. Matthew’s Gospel and Luke. Matthew devotes a single verse, single sentence to the actual birth of Jesus. These words in his Gospel, chapter two, verse one, “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea “during the reign of King Herod.” So the event is quickly mentioned and the timing or dating of that event are in plain view.

It was during the reign of Herod the king. That’s what Matthew says. But Luke, who happens to be a physician, he wrote Luke and Acts, if you didn’t know that in the New Testament, as maybe you would expect from a physician, he was much more given to detail and therefore a more extensive explanation of things. And my Bible’s open to his presentation in Luke chapter two. Would you turn there if you haven’t already and find your way to Luke chapter two?

And let me show you what I’m talking about and I’ll begin with, the news has been shared previously in chapter one to both Joseph and Mary and Elizabeth and others that there’s this really big thing common. But chapter two opens with verse four telling about Joseph taking his engaged soon to be wife Mary to the town of Nazareth in Galilee. And this is how it reads, or from the town of Nazareth rather to Bethlehem. So Joseph also went up verse four. From the town of Nazareth in Galilee, that’s up north of Jerusalem.

To Judea to Bethlehem in the town of David because he belonged to the house and line of David. I wish we had more time. You would see how that’s a fulfillment all in its own of a whole bunch of prophetic words in the prophets of the Old Testament, the reading on. He went there to register with Mary who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the same time came the baby to be born and she gave birth to her first born, a son.

She wrapped him in clothes and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them. Let me stop for a sec, take that scene in. I did so this week and it took me back to three different moments where I was present at the birth of a baby. They happened to be my three children, a girl, then a boy, then a girl. And I know what I’m talking about when I tell you that it is a stunning, shocking moment for the father.

I can’t speak for the mom, it’s a whole lot more than that for the mom, but I can tell you as a dad three times over, these words capture it well. There is no one more excited over a new baby than a father. And God meant it that way. Every man of necessity must stand by helpless, concerned, but able only to await the outcome. End quote.

That is me, a second time and a third time. I wanted in the worst way I made problem solver and a wife that’s not comfortable is a problem. That is a problem that I want to solve with me. But I couldn’t. And it’s a bell-ringer of insight when I read those words into my memory of those three moments for me.

Looking back, in fact, this week felt like I gained some insight a little bit maybe as a human might be able to claim such an insight into how God the father must have felt in that scene when his son, was born. And he was like me in one weird kind of way. He, too, watched and waited and quietly observed as his son was born to Mary. He saw it all happen and that’s not easy to do. It isn’t for a human much less for I’m gonna surmise God the father.

As any dad I think here this morning can report, the fact is everything in you wants to tell everyone around you. And you don’t whisper words. You say, this is it. In a good sense, this is it. Vancouver, Vancouver, this is the big one.

Came the shout of Mount St. Helens erupting. But this is positive. This is the stuff of, this is it. And this is my baby.

This isn’t just any old baby. This is my boy. This is my girl. And it’s big news. And I want to shout it to everyone around me.

More significant than any other child that’s been born. This child. Right? You getting with me? But I was cautioned by my birthing coach.

I say mine, it’s really Debbie’s, but I had to go to all the classes, you know? I actually got to. It was really fun. Until she took me to that moment and you’re gonna be blowing up with excitement came her prediction. And she said, you must be quiet about it.

You’re supposed to be there for her. Help her. With her deep cleansing breath. Ah, he’s. You’re supposed to do it all.

And you’re supposed to stay calm in all of it. Really? Let me see if I get this straight. Hey, it’s football season, all right? There’s a lot of championship games.

And just before you get out on the field, what does the coach do? He gets the team in the room and just cranks them full of adrenaline. They’re just, they’re amping with hormones in it. And it’s just crazy, right? And it’d be like the coach doing all that.

Here it comes. We’re about to get to kickoff. And then he says to them as they leave the locker room, instead of kill them, take them down, leave no prisoners, be the champs. He says, hey, go to the sideline quietly and finish your cross stitch. And then slowly make your way to your position on the field.

And then there will be a whistle blow and we can get going. You gotta be kidding. Just as you can’t hold in happy news like that for very long. It’s meant to be shared. So too, suddenly God lifted the lid of excitement.

His understandable excitement over the birth announcement of his son. And we pick up on that in verse eight. There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid.

I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be assigned to you. You will find a baby wrapped in claws and lying in a manger.

And then verse 13 tells you almost like the release of water from a dam. God could not contain it any longer. The Father dispatched were told a great company of heavenly hosts suddenly appearing with that one angel, presumably Gabriel, praising God and saying, the glory to God, right? It’s this anthem that echoes across the heavens. Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests.

So for a few moments, let’s talk about the obvious. What I’m calling this morning as I thought long about this scene, shepherd shock, because that’s exactly who this news came to the first. And I’m calling it shepherd shock because when I tell you what I know about shepherds, I’ve not been one except the biblical sense, a shepherd of a flock of people here at Grace Point, but shepherds are a unique bunch. And what I just read to you is not normal, nor is it in any way, shape or form expected by a shepherd. There’s a certainty in my mind that it shocked them.

That’s why I say what we just read about is shepherd shock. Did it strike you as strange that the first humans that were to hear this amazing amazing news were shepherds? They do a humble dirty job like the show Dirty Jobs. It’s a dirty job and the people that do it are known by certain qualities, most of them. They are simple people.

They’re drawn, they mind their own business. They’re around animals mostly, not people. They work while everyone else is asleep. We would call that graveyard today. They’re alone most of the time and their work is hard and incredibly tedious.

That means redundant to the point of wanting light of fire just to bring some excitement. It’s tedious work. A normal day for a shepherd was mostly uneventful except for the periodic interruption of an alarming protest by a sheep that a predator was near and might in fact have a meal out of a lamb. And that got the attention of the shepherd that was just this side of dozing off. Another night in a seven day a week deal.

You’re getting the picture. They were known in their day as you might guess as common people of the day. In fact, I’m gonna suggest they were drawn to their work likely because it kind of fit their personalities and their temperaments. They didn’t need a lot of show. They didn’t need fancy.

They didn’t need lights or formal. They just did their thing and came back at the end of the night and did a head count or a nose count and found that they were successful or mostly and they were done. So it comes as no surprise that a single angel started all of this in verse nine. Did you catch that? And with this one angel there’s this glory of the Lord that’s shown around them.

I’m not sure what that is but it was, we’re told what effect it had on them in two words at the end of verse nine and beginning of verse 10. Terrified. Whatever that moment was for these simple shepherds, it was terrifying. I don’t know what you do in a moment of terror but they probably winced and covered their eyes, ducked, maybe tried to protect themselves somehow. I don’t really know but enough for Luke to call our attention to, they were terrified and verse 10 adds and afraid.

So moments later though, as though that wasn’t enough excitement for these shepherds, a solo angel, this angel and I’m surmising this from the previous chapter. Gabriel had all the fun jobs. He got to tell Mary and Joseph and also let’s assume it’s Gabriel. We’re not told in chapter two here but moments later while the shepherds had seen this first angel Gabriel then in that moment they, Gabriel’s get is joined by a vast host of other angels. And the scene gets really amazing with a visual and verbal display, the likes of which they had never seen.

This great company, verse 13 of “Heavenly Host” appeared and they’re praising God. I think that’s an actual song out of the Messiah, Handel’s Messiah. This thunderous moment. Likely feeling faint from all of the excitement. The shepherds did what I would have done if I was one of them.

I would have looked for another shepherd to kind of group up real quick and say what did you see? What in the world was that? And what is this happening to us? And we’re told as much that verse 15 picks up that they group up and well let’s read what Luke reports. The angels, when the angels left them and had gone and to heaven the shepherds, they say to one another, hey we got to check this out.

Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger and when they had seen him they look at this reaction. They spread the word concerning what they had been told to them about this child and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. And Luke wraps this up by saying the shepherds then returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen which were just as they had been told.

Powerful. The shepherds without delay, they go and they see for themselves and they confirm what had been told to them by Gabriel and this host of others. And they go there and they see it with their own eyes. And from that moment these normally shy shepherds tell absolutely everyone were told about what they had seen and heard. And it left most people convinced.

It wasn’t like hey you guys are hallucinating, you spend too much time alone. Get out of the field. That’s not healthy for you. It wasn’t that reaction at all, the reaction was just the opposite. It’s like you, who would make this up?

You guys were deeply impacted by this. I prayed it earlier about the apostle Luke calls attention and acts and he calls attention to these fishermen who had been with Jesus and then people said you know something? You used to hang out at Galilee and go out on a boat and draw in fish and that was pretty much your DNA. But you’re different now. What’s happened to you?

You’re not just a fisherman, I’m quoting from Acts chapter four verses 12 and 13. You’re not just a fisherman we knew, you are different. And we’re told the conclusion that people came to there was you look like you’ve spent time with Jesus. Well you’ve got the same thing at work here in verses 17 and 18. You guys spent time with sheep.

That’s what you do. Not a big fancy life. You almost have nothing to talk about really. Boy you’re going up to strangers with this news. You’re telling people cold turkey, look this really did happen to me.

I can’t get over it. I love verse 19 too because most moms that I know of find that verse incredibly meaningful. You take it all in like Mary did. Draw these things up, treasure and ponder them in her heart we’re told. Can I have you have a little fun before I ask you a couple of questions that will be done?

Look at verse 20. Imagine if sheep could speak. I was thinking about this. So they’re all done. Checking it out.

They’re telling everybody to know and then verse 20 as the shepherds returned. Glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen which were just as they had been told. Can you imagine if sheep could speak what they would be saying? Right? You’re the normal.

This is your cadence as a shepherd. Hey sheep one, sheep two. How you doing? And you come back amped. Wildly excited.

Telling I mean you are talk about not able to sleep. If you were a sheep there you’d say who are you? And what did you do to my shepherd? Right? That’s that’s that’s what we’ve got here.

I’m going to call that if there was shepherd shock. Let’s call that sheep shock right there. Okay. You with me? All right.

Before before we land it I want to give you a couple of thoughts. That I’ve had on my mind. They come in the form of questions and you’re going to find right away. Wow he thinks that way. I do this.

I do this all the time. I ask when I’m reading God’s word why. What’s behind that? What is that’s what is God trying to tell me by this? And so naturally when I read a passage of scripture I’d encourage you to do the same.

When you do read the scripture ask why. For example husbands are told to love their wives as Christ loved the church. The wife is never told to love her husband. Does that mean she gets a pass? Why?

See what I mean? It’s a great question. Wives are told to submit to their husbands in the Lord and husbands are not told to submit to their wives. Why? An omission?

Ask why. It’s a great journey for you to take. But we have one right here. Okay. The first of two questions.

Why did God appear first to shepherds? Because that’s what we break into this story. Is it not? It might come as a surprise to you this morning. Why did he come first to shepherds?

Now if your answer is welcome on that’s not that big a deal question because after all does not verse eight say they were keeping. Let’s see they were there were shepherds living out in the fields circle the word pastor nearby. They were nearby. That would be my answer why he came to them first. If that’s your answer then how do you explain the fact that God sent an angel from who knows how far away.

Which is what he did. So what is it about that? I went back to Mary and she came to mind as maybe a similar reason God chose her instead of a mature adult woman. Probably quite likely a teenager. For very simple and similar reasons.

She had something in common it seems to me if you go back to chapter one you can read a little bit about this. You get the feeling of this. She too was an unlikely choice to be the mother of Jesus. You go to somebody that knows what they’re doing. Don’t you?

I mean you’re not just giving birth to any old boy. This is the boy. This is the king becoming a child, a baby. You find the most professional potential mother you could find. Would you not?

You find somebody that knows how to give birth. I’m not a woman but she’s got it down. She knows what she’s doing. She had two, three, five, ten kids. She gets it.

Knows how to nurse. Ask any brand new first time mom and she will tell you stories are freaking out. “You know my baby’s weight’s going down.” That’s standard. But not if you’re a pro.

But she is a rookie. And she was poor. And she was very humble. I mean this reverently. Her baby’s father was unknown.

You think, “Oh come on pastor.” She knew who God was. She knew who God was. But let’s not overreach in our reconstruction of what happened. This hadn’t been done before.

So she’s just got what she has to work with. Her parenthood was unplanned. We plan to have babies. She didn’t. And like, likely a teenager I mentioned.

Yet her first response, and I’m looking back a page to chapter one, verse 38. Look at the end of all this. She hasn’t had the baby yet. She just hears you’re the one. You’re the favored one earlier she’s told.

And look at verse 38 of chapter one. Her very first words out of her mouth. She asks along the way, I’m a virgin. And then her resolve in verse 38. I’m the Lord’s servant, Mary answered.

May your word to me be fulfilled. And Gabriel left her. Mission accomplished. Her reply revealed something of why I think God chose her. As the one to have his son.

And in a similar sense, I think if you really think deeply about the Shepherds, could it be said that the Shepherds’ response reveals why they were told first? Because their response would be as we have read it. May I paraphrase it? Okay. We’re in.

We’re in. Obvious question to conclude our morning. And that’s the question. What difference did it have on the Shepherds? To hear this news.

I would draw you back to verse 16. And notice the first of two reactions. Verse 16 says they hurried off. Their response, I’m going to draw from that was swift. It wasn’t, Hey guys, see you tomorrow.

And let’s talk about this. Some more. Their response was now. This just happened and I can’t hold it in. That’s why verses 17 and 18 matter so much.

And that takes me to a second response. It was bold. It was really, it wasn’t the whisper words. It was bold. They returned.

May I use the word changed. So we can conclude that Jesus came to those who would have him if we put Mary and the Shepherds in a similar camp. They both said essentially, okay, God, have your way. And he still comes to people like that. People in this gathering this morning.

Has he come to you? He came to quote Jesus words directly to seek and to save those who are lost. So have you come to understand in fact that he came and the way he came was not to spook you and it wasn’t to startle you and it wasn’t to fool you and it wasn’t to frighten you. It was to win you. And like they to cause you to say to a king that had become a baby, have your way with me and have your way in me.

And that’s still what he’s searching for today. I’d like you to bow your heads this morning in. We’re going to sing a response to the one who came. The word Emmanuel means God with us. He came to be with us.

I’ll say what is the obvious to you and me when we think of this presentation this morning. That night, of course, changed those Shepherds. And I’m going to assume it changed them for good, not for temporary that night. I’m going to say that they maybe at a core level began to define themselves differently. I am now a beholder of Jesus.

Emmanuel came to me and he now lives in me and he has a permanent place on the throne of me. So that night changed them. From that night forward the baby became their king. And he came for nothing less than king of their entire lives. Their hearts, their home.

Their marriage is if they were married. Their family. Their business. Everything was in play. Exciting, don’t you think?

As the ushers come together the morning offering prayer requests that some of you are going to turn in. Can I encourage you to give something extra to him today? Something that is incalculable and it’s lost in value. Give him your heart in a fresh way. Give him your heart that says God I’ll go from here different.

You are the king of me. He searches, seeks nothing less. Let’s stand together and be led in this final song.

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 4,828 words.