Good morning. Today, as we approach Christmas in just a couple of weeks, I stop and wonder what Christmas means to other people. For instance:
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 little man in Zimbabwe, 80 years old, 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 Korean children with smudges on their cheeks and 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 their families and friends, who are sacrificing so much to take the precious gospel message to others who have never heard it before. What does Christmas mean to them?
Well, I’m sure that Christmas means different things to different people.
To merchants it is the busiest time of the year. Stores stay open longer and they hire extra people to accommodate all the shoppers. It means more profit, hopefully enough profit to see them through the harder 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 teenagers and adults 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 sometimes I wonder if we are like the people who decided to throw a party to honor a very special friend of theirs. They sent out invitations, decorated the party hall, and had the food catered in. 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.
You know, when I look around at the Christmas season, which for some people begins far before Thanksgiving, I wonder if that happens at Christmas time too? Do we go through all the decorating, and buying presents, and preparing elaborate meals, but somehow forget whose birthday it really is?
I read about one family that tried to overcome that by putting an extra place at their Christmas table for Jesus, and they called 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 again, it’s not my birthday!”
It isn’t our birthday, is it? It’s the Lord’s birthday and it’s a time to remember His birth and what it is supposed to mean to us. So let’s turn to Luke chapter 2. In this passage, we are reading about the birth of Jesus being told to a group of shepherds.
In Luke 2:7-20 it says, “1”
The fact that God made the announcement to shepherds helps us to understand the real meaning of Christmas. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” And the neat thing is, He chose to announce that to shepherds first of all.
Shepherds were at the opposite end of the social strata from King Herod and all of the influential people of the day. They lived in the fields with their animals. They weren’t respected by other people. They had no power or prestige. Yet God’s angel came to them and said, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.”
Unto shepherds, a Savior was born. In that one simple announcement God made known some very important truths.
First, God Knows You, And You Are Important To Him
First of all, it tells us that no matter how insignificant you may think you are, God knows you, and you are important to Him. All throughout scripture we see God honoring, blessing, and using people and things that the rest of the world often overlooks, ignores, or thinks is too insignificant.
The Apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 1:26-28, and he tells us to, “2”
In the Bible, we are told of a young Jewish man that 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. You see, God uses the lowly and the despised things to show His true power.
One day, 5 thousand men, plus women and children, stayed late on a hillside listening to Jesus. There was no food and the people were starting to get hungry. Well, I guess that is not totally accurate. There was one person who had 2 fish and 5 little loaves of bread. But surely that wouldn’t have been enough to fee over 5 thousand people.
Now, we know how that story goes. Jesus does something amazing, and those 2 fish and 5 small loaves of bread were enough, because God took that small amount and He fed the many. And in life today, if we take an honest look at the way that God works, 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 the beauty parlors. He went past the furs and diamonds and gold, and He went to an insignificant village called Nazareth. He found a peasant girl. She did not dress in designer clothes. She didn’t have a sophisticated education. But she was pure, and God selected her to be the mother of His only begotten Son.
So, when Jesus is finally born, He’s not born in a fancy hospital or inn. In fact, He isn’t even born in a nice house. There are not doctors, nurses, or assistants to help in the delivery. There were no nice baby clothes to put on Him, and no comfortable bed to place Him and His mother. Instead, He is born in a stable, a place for animals to sleep. He is wrapped in swaddling clothes, not the best fit for a king. And He is laid in a manger, a feeding trough for animals.
The world looks down its nose and says, “That’s foolishness.” But Paul says in I Corinthians 1:25 that, “The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”
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 as well!
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. People who feel useless and 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, and God says, “No! You’re wrong. I made the announcement to shepherds, and I make it to you. For unto you a Savior is born.”
So, God knows you, and you are important to Him.
Secondly, Your Life Matters Because God Loves You
The second thing this passage teaches us is that life matters. Not only you, but your life counts with God.
I imagine those shepherds must have sat around the campfire many times and wondered if life was really worthwhile or not. “What difference does it make if we watch the sheep or not?” they may have thought.
Maybe we wonder things like that too. “What difference does it make if I get up every morning or not?” “What difference does it make if I do the thing I do?”
When God comes and makes His announcement to the shepherds, He is also saying to us, “Your life is worthwhile. It is My gift to you. Therefore, live every moment of it, because your life does matter to Me.”
You see, every life matters. We should know that. 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 the good, or for the bad.
Do any of you know who Bubba Smith is? Probably not, but he retired from professional football several 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. You might remember him now.
In a magazine article about him, Bubba Smith said that he has never drank 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 an enjoyable job, and it paid a good salary.
Everything was great, 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 crowds of people on both sides of the parade route shouting. And what were they shouting? Where they screaming, “Hail to Michigan State?” No! One side was shouting, “Tastes great!” while the other side was shouting, “Less filling!”
Bubba Smith suddenly realized that he and the beer commercials that he made had made a tremendous impact on the students at Michigan State. And the message that they had gotten was that “It’s alright to drink light beer.”
Later, Bubba was in Ft. Lauderdale during Spring Break and he saw drunken college students 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. He said that there was a still, small voice in his mind that kept saying, “Stop, Bubba. Stop!”
You see, everybody’s life counts for something.
Some years ago, a cartoon appeared in newspapers across the land. It pictured 2 farmers in Kentucky, standing in a field as snow fell softly. One turned to the other and 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 and 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.” Nothing exciting happens around here, except the fact that a baby was born to a virgin. And it was a baby that would changed the entire world.
Life counts. Life matters. Your life and mine. Lives of shepherds, lives of kings, and lives of everyone in between, are all important to God.
So, your life matters because God loves you.
And Finally, Your Faith Matters Too
Shepherds were men of great faith. They probably had more faith than some of the scribes and 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 and enslavement and exile, they would think about the Messiah and God’s promise that one day the Messiah would come.
They prayed over and over again, “Let the Messiah come. Let Him come today!” They prayed that prayer for hundreds of years, and 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 stopped praying, and stopped having faith. But when the announcement came to these shepherds, God was saying, “Your faith matters, and it is not in vain. I am a God who hears and a God who keeps His promises. Now the Messiah has come, and I have kept My promise.”
Now, what 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. Is it worth sticking it out, is God really out there, and is He going to come back?
But, one day He will come. He will come for all of us. He will come for the shepherds, the kings, the wise-men, the peasants, and everyone in between. He will come for His people. He’ll dry our tears and 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!”
So, we need to understand that our faith really does matter.
Now, as we wrap things up for today, we come back to the beginning, wondering what Christmas means to other people. To some, it is a time of the year to make money. To some, it is the season to receive present and throw parties. And still to others, it is a meaningless season to them.
But for the Christian, it should be a season to reflect on the birth of Christ. The time when our Savior came to this earth in human flesh to take away our sins. And we need to realize that He came for everyone.
So, for today, understand this:
- God know you, and you are important to Him.
- Your life matters because God loves you.
- Your faith matters too.
Let’s Pray!
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