Rediscover the Story
Rediscover Christmas

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Good morning, church! So what I need down here are some children. Not you big people; I’m not talking about you big adult people. I’m talking about children. Some of you sit up here beside me; scoot in tight. Some of you can sit all around, facing me and look at me so you can answer some questions. I’m going to ask you some questions in a minute. We have some more room over here. So many kids. You’re doing great. Everybody’s looking so good. First of all, I’m going to read you the story about Jesus’ birth and then afterwards I’m going to ask you some questions. If you don’t listen really closely, you won’t be able to answer the questions. If you’re really good, we have a little prize for you at the end. Let me read the story and then I’ll ask you some questions.

Luke 2:1-14 (ESV) 1In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped himin swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 8And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Are you ready for some questions? The way I’m going to do this is it’s going to be like “rediscovering” the story . I brought some things in this hat. What kind of hat is this? Yes, it’s a Santa hat. I’m going to build something here; what do you think this is? That’s right, it is a manger. I’ve got a little base that holds it up. Let’s see if I can build it; it’s not that hard. Now, what I’m going to do, is I’m going to pull something out and it will be part of the story. I want you to guess what it is. (Pulling out object in his hand) Do you think it’s baby Jesus? What do you think? I haven’t opened my hand yet. Let’s see who it is. Who is it? It’s Mary. Maybe it will be baby Jesus next time. Let’s see what we’ve got here. Who do you think this is? Who was the one who talked to the shepherds with that big voice? Yes, it’s the angel. I’ll go faster this time. Who is this one going to be? That’s right, it’s finally baby Jesus! We can’t have Christmas without baby Jesus. Who is this? Is it one of the shepherds? He’s out here in the field at night? He’s carrying a sheep. Okay, I’m going to pull somebody else out here. Now who is this; could it be Joseph? Did you say a cow? It could be a cow. Wait a minute. Who’s this? How did Rudolph get in the bag? Does Rudolph belong in the story? Okay, we have three figures left here. Do they go in this story? Did I read about the three wise men just now? I didn’t, did I? Let’s put them way over there because it will take them two years to get here. We’ll put these guys way over here because they’re not in Luke’s story. They’re coming; they’re traveling from afar but they’re not here yet. Thanks for helping me tell the Christmas story. Now, Miss Robin is going to give you a gift. You can grab one or two for yourselves and take them to your seat. Thank you for being such a great audience and helping me tell the story. Parents, you’re doing a good job. Your children were very well behaved and they know the story. I don’t know how Rudolph got in the hat; I think they’re still very concerned about Rudolph being in there. I don’t know how he got in there.

So we’ve been “Rediscovering Christmas” together for the past few weeks. We have talked about how to rediscover the anticipation, how to rediscover the relationships and how to rediscover the miracles and the wonder. This evening, we’re going to be looking at how to “rediscover” the story.

Everybody loves a story, don’t you agree? Everybody loves a story. Not just children; it doesn’t matter who you are. Everybody loves a story. I remember when my children were small, they would say, “Daddy tell us a story.” They would particularly love a story about them. ‘Daddy tell me a story about when I was first born.’ My daughter, Erin, used to climb up in my lap and ask, “Daddy, tell me the story about when I was born and about you buying that dress for me.” There was a fancy little store in Roanoke where I had bought her this dress. Erin was our third child. We’d already had two little boys . So, we had this little girl. I was at this store and my wife was still in the hospital. I guess I just went “over the top,” just thinking, “I have a girl.” I went to this exclusive baby store in a mall in Roanoke, Virginia. It was the kind of store that I ordinarily would never go in. The two ladies that were working there, sold me a white silk dress for an infant, with white tights with little pink hearts and shoes to match and a bow for the hair–all of the details. I spent some money on that little outfit, for her “going home” outfit, as it were. Here’s a picture of what she looked like in that little dress. I used to tell Erin this story and she would put her little hands on my face and say, “Daddy, you really love me!” We especially love stories about us and we especially love a love story, a story that invites you in. We love stories about ourselves.

What if I could tell you a story today that you’ve been invited to be part of? This is the story of Christmas. Let’s enter into that story afresh on this Christmas Eve. Let’s enter into the story afresh and be reminded that we’ve been invited into the story.

I’m not sure what story you’re telling yourself this weekend. Maybe you’re reminding yourself of some past stories. Maybe you’ve been remembering some mistakes that you’ve made, some problems you’ve encountered or hurts you’ve experienced and they’re kind of marking the way you feel about today’s story. Some of you might be worried about tomorrow. Maybe you’re discouraged, worried or anxious. I don’t know what story you’re telling yourself today. Maybe we’re just telling ourselves the wrong story. What if we entered into this story– the story of Jesus afresh?

I want us to look at this gospel story that I have just read and you know so well. I want us to consider receiving three gifts that Jesus offers to us from this story.

Here’s the first gift:

1. Christ’s sacrificial gift.

If you look at verses 10 and 11, notice the phrase “good news.” The angel said, “I bring you good news of great joy.” “Good news” is just another way of saying the gospel. ‘I bring you the gospel; I bring you the good news.’

What is the good news? The good news is that a Savior is born. Kings are born in palaces but lambs are born in a stable. This is a Savior, born to us. This baby Jesus came to die in our place. This was His purpose, from the moment He entered into this world, to become one of us and to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He entered into a historical and political setting.

The historian and physician Luke wrote a very accurate story. He tells us so many details. He tells us about Caesar Augustus and how he had called for a census, but he seems to be contrasting the human and the divine authority here. Caesar may have called for the census, but God called for Caesar to call for the census so that the baby Jesus would be born in the city of David and not in Galilee, where his parents were living. They had to go back to Bethlehem to fulfill that Messianic claim. Why did they have to go back? It was because both Joseph and Mary were from the line of David and it was prophesied that the Messiah would come through the line of David through Joseph – He gets His legal right to the throne and through Mary, His physical right to the throne. And you can see the two lineages, one in Matthew for Joseph and one in Luke for Mary and from both lines, He needed to be born in Bethlehem and so Joseph and Mary moved there.

Notice the humble circumstances of this Son of God; He came down from heaven, took on human flesh and was placed in a feeding trough. As one of the children today pointed out, one of the Children said, “What’s that thing called that you feed animals in the manger?”

Jesus made Himself known. The angels could have announced the birth of Jesus to anyone. They could have announced Him to kings,queens, lords and ladies, but they went out and announced Him to some ‘blue collar workers working third shift’- some shepherds working in the fields at night. They went out to a specific place, into the fields near Bethlehem. In Hebrew, there’s a place there called “Migdal Eder,” which means “tower of the flock.” You can go there and you’ll see this tower; I have a picture of it for you. The shepherds would be able to see over the fields to watch for wolves and others that might get after their sheep. They could, also, gather the newborn lambs into the bottom of this place to make sure that they were kept well. They would often swaddle these lambs when they were small to keep them from having any imperfection because the shepherds had a business. Their business was (they were only a two-hour walk from Jerusalem) to carry sacrificial lambs to the temple to be sold for those who came needing that to offer a lamb. Who else would you go to to announce that the Lamb of God was born? You would go to the experts, go to the shepherds, the ones who raised the passover lambs. So, they were invited in.

As we look at this sacrificial gift, the cradle overshadows the cross. This baby came to die for you and me. The implications of that are, first of all, have you given your life to Jesus? He gave His life for you. Having done that, have you been willing to offer your life as a living sacrifice ? The mark of Christmas is to be a sacrificial giver– one ready to give your life to others. It’s a sacrificial gift. Enter into the story and receive the gift.

Here’s the second gift:

2. Christ’s relational gift.

Christ offers us a relational gift. Notice, that the good news, in verse 10, was for who? It was for all the people. How many people do we have here? The scripture says, “all the people.” “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.”

Then, in verse 11, it gets even more specific, it says, 11 “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” This Savior is born unto you. This Christ is for you; He’s a relational gift. You see Christianity is not so much a religion as it is about a relationship with the living God through the person of Jesus Christ. We are called into a relationship; Jesus came to be with us. The word, “Christ,” could be translated as “Messiah.” It means “the anointed one.” He is the Messiah, the Promised One.

Here’s the sign that was given in verse 12, it says, “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” The swaddling clothes is kind of normal; you wrap the baby up so tight that the baby can’t move and it makes the baby feel like he’s still in the womb. Swaddling comforts the baby. But “lying in a manger?” That’s odd; it’s not a crib, it’s a feeding trough.

When they got there, they saw the baby that the angel was talking about. He descended as the King of Glory down to a bed of straw. He had just previously been in the throne room of the heavens where He continually heard, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty” as Isaiah saw, in Isaiah chapter six. He comes down the ladder of love and becomes one of us, He takes on human flesh.

This is why the angel said to Joseph in Matthew 1:23 (ESV) “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). That’s what Christmas is about; God sent His one and only Son to be with us,not from a distance but up close and personal.

You know, the best part of Christmas might be this weekend and being with family. I was just mingling with some of you before the service started. I heard one say, “This is my mom and dad.” I heard another say, “This is my mom.” I heard another say, “This is my granddaughter who just came from California.” Thank you for sharing your family weekend with us as a church family. More than that, thank you that you could come worship the true reason for the season; to worship King Jesus . Here we are as the family of God. It’s about relationship.

We don’t really call my family a family. We call them a “tribe” because we have ten grandchildren. Can you believe it? We’ve been very blessed. Some years ago, we decided to limit how much we spend on presents. Here’s the decision we made – spend less on presents and more on presence. Did you catch that? Spend less on presents and more on being present, fully present with each other, in relationship, because we were made for each other. We were made for one another.

Didn’t we learn during the year 2020 that something was wrong that we couldn’t be together? I mean, there’s still an anxiety in our nation to this day where people still haven’t gotten over what that isolation did to us. We were made for relationship. We were made to be in relationship with God and with one another. Our family limits our spending to $10 per gift and no more. That’s getting harder, by the way, with inflation. Our focus is being together, reading the bible story together, eating together and making sure we’re in a relationship this Christmas.

Would you receive the gift of being in a relationship with the living God through the person of Jesus? Would you say “yes” to Him and make Him your Lord? Having done that, would you recognize that He’s called you to be in a relationship with Him so that He’s fully formed in us. We are becoming like Him and we become like Him to the world. We offer relationships to the world because the world so desperately needs a relationship with God.

Here’s the third gift:

3. Christ’s incarnational gift.

He has offered us a sacrificial gift, a relational gift and, finally, an incarnational gift. Circle the third title given to the shepherds, namely, “the Lord.” He is God in the flesh. The third title that the shepherds heard is He is Christ; He is the Lord. The word here would have been Adonai, He is the Lord. To say that He is “the Lord” is to say that He is God (“Adonai”). In other words, He’s God. He’s God in the flesh. He comes and offers a relationship with us so that we could know Him.

Notice how the angels sang. They sang a doxology to Him, verse 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” It was like one singular angel was doing the talking and then the heavens opened up and a whole choir of angels began to shout this doxology out. This one born is the son of God.

We read in John 1:1, 14 (NASB) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The word became flesh . That’s who Jesus is; He’s God incarnate, God in the flesh.

Notice, in verse 15 -20 , it says,15 “When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” You see now that they become part of the story. It wasn’t just a story about Jesus being born the son of God. The shepherds are in the story now because they went to see Him; they went and found Him there. The sign was proven tothem and then they went out and started telling others about it.

What I see here, is what could happen to us, that Christ has come and now He’s ascended back to the Father, but He offers to live in us so that we can live incarnationally. That’s a big word, right? It means that we can let Christ live in us. He’s the head of the church and we are the body. Christ has no hands or no feet in this world but ours. He has chosen us, church family, in order to live incarnationally, so that the world would know Christ through us. I pray that we would let Christ be fully formed in us, that we would enter into the story, so that we are part of His story because history is His and we belong to Him.

Paul writes in Colossians 1:27 (GW) “God wanted his people throughout the world to know the glorious riches of this mystery—which is Christ living in you, giving you the hope of glory.” You see, this is what Christianity is. It’s not about a religion, it’s about a relationship. Christianity is saying, ‘I need to know the Father and the only way to know the Father is through Jesus the Son’ This is why He came, so that we could be made right with the Father and not only that, right with one another by living and letting Jesus live in us. This is what it means to be a Christ follower. Come and be fully formed in me, Jesus, so that the words of my mouth, the activities of my life are guided by You. May it be so. May you receive these three gifts and enter into this story afresh on this Christmas eve as we remember what Christ has done. Let’s “rediscover” the story; let His character be fully formed in us.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for Your word. Thank you for the story of Christmas and for offering us this opportunity to enter into the story, to “rediscover” the story for ourselves. Lord, I pray right now, that if there’s anyone here in this room that’s never received Jesus as Lord and Savior, that they would pray with me right now, ‘Dear Lord Jesus, (just pray right in your seat, you can pray silently, He hears you) I’m a sinner. I want to have a relationship with You. I want to be right with the Father. I believe that You died on the cross and that You were raised from the grave. Come and live in me. Make me the kind of person that You want me to be. I want to follow You, Lord Jesus. Thank You for saving me. We pray it now in Jesus’ name. Amen.