Christmas Day
Series: CHRISTMAS 2014
Speaker: Sam Low
Date: 24th December 2014
Passage: Luke 2:1-15
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 we actually become too familiar with Christmas.
00:00:03 --> 00:00:07 It's like when you have the relative or the friend visiting you from overseas
00:00:07 --> 00:00:10 and you take them in to see the city.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:14 And they're marvelling at the architecture and the engineering brilliance
00:00:14 --> 00:00:15 that is the Harbour Bridge.
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 And all you can think about is the traffic that you get stuck in
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 each day on the way to work.
00:00:21 --> 00:00:25 You've totally stopped noticing anything impressive about that bridge.
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 It's become completely functional.
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 And you take for granted that it is one of the most impressive
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 and beautiful bridges in the world.
00:00:32 --> 00:00:36 Or when that same guest comes to stay with you from overseas
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 and you serve them Vegemite.
00:00:39 --> 00:00:43 And their body knows to respond to the disgusting substance
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 that has entered their mouth by expelling it as quickly as possible.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:52 But you have conditioned yourself into thinking that it might be some sort of food
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 and so you don't notice just how vulgar Vegemite is.
00:00:55 --> 00:01:02 When you become familiar with something, you can start to miss the details.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:03 You can start to miss the significance.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:08 I've been married for just over seven and a half years now.
00:01:09 --> 00:01:13 And it's interesting to think back to what it was like in my relationship
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 with my now wife when we first met.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:20 So when we just started dating, I remember meeting her for the first time
00:01:20 --> 00:01:25 or beginning to spend time with her and being absolutely infatuated with this woman.
00:01:25 --> 00:01:29 I thought she was the most amazing thing that God had ever created.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:33 And I would annoy her with text messages and I would follow her around
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 and I would just appear where she was spending time.
00:01:36 --> 00:01:40 And the way that I would communicate with her is nowadays, you know,
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 it's just a quick text, the one word yes, no.
00:01:43 --> 00:01:47 But back then, I would want to make sure that she had to reply to my text.
00:01:47 --> 00:01:51 Because this person was the only person whose attention I needed in the world.
00:01:51 --> 00:01:56 And so for me, there was no sweeter sound than my phone going beep, beep.
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 Because that was, you know, her letting me know that she was thinking about me as well,
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 letting me know that I was important to her as well.
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 But it's interesting seven and a half years on,
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 how when I get a text from my wife, if I reply,
00:02:09 --> 00:02:14 it tends to be a little bit shorter, perhaps a little bit more functional,
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 a little bit less affectionate or caring.
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 It's not that she's less valuable now,
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 but it's just that I'm going to see her at some point today.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:23 We live together.
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 You know, I know her so well now.
00:02:26 --> 00:02:30 And so the problem is that when you get familiar with something or someone,
00:02:31 --> 00:02:35 you start interacting with some sort of vague memory of what they're like,
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 rather than the reality that's right in front of you.
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 And so you start missing the detail.
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 You start missing the value.
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 You start missing the significance that's there.
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 And I have to confess that coming up to this Christmas,
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 preparing to speak on this passage,
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 I felt a little bit familiar.
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 I mean, I know how this story goes.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 How am I going to write a sermon about this?
00:03:01 --> 00:03:01 There's no suspense.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:03 You know what's going to happen.
00:03:04 --> 00:03:05 Jesus is going to be born.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:09 There's no way to keep you interested with sort of a plot twist.
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 But I confess that not to say that that's a good pattern,
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 but to challenge you like I had to challenge myself.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 When we come to any story in the Bible,
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 and especially one as familiar as the Christmas story,
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 we need to come with fresh eyes and fresh ears.
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 So we need to look at this story and we need to hear this story
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 as if we're hearing it for the very first time.
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 You've got to try and put yourself into the story
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 as if you're one of the characters,
00:03:36 --> 00:03:41 as if you're the one experiencing this for the very first time.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 Because you have to imagine,
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 without 2 years of Christmas tradition and history,
00:03:48 --> 00:03:52 what would it have been like that first Christmas Eve?
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 Did they have any idea what was about to happen?
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 I mean, everybody that we've just read about,
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 did they understand how significant Christmas would become?
00:04:03 --> 00:04:07 Even Mary and Joseph, they had an angel visit them and say,
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 the child you're going to have is going to be the saviour.
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 But did they understand what that meant?
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 When, you know, after pondering that for nine months
00:04:16 --> 00:04:20 and then holding this little naked crying mess of a baby,
00:04:21 --> 00:04:23 were they looking at that baby thinking,
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 this baby has the power to save us?
00:04:25 --> 00:04:29 Or the shepherds minding their own business in the fields,
00:04:30 --> 00:04:34 angels appear, sing and announce the arrival of the king and the saviour.
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 The shepherds at least understood enough
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 to go and check out who this baby was.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 But when they arrived and they saw Jesus,
00:04:42 --> 00:04:43 did they know what they were looking at?
00:04:44 --> 00:04:45 Did they know what was right in front of them?
00:04:45 --> 00:04:49 Even the wise men who travelled for years
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 following the star to find the king of the Jews,
00:04:51 --> 00:04:55 when they arrived, did they know what that meant?
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 Did they know just how important this king would be?
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 Did they understand that this was not a king like other kings,
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 that this was the king of all creation?
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 Did they really comprehend what was going on?
00:05:09 --> 00:05:13 Or did they think this is going to be a significant 80 years
00:05:13 --> 00:05:14 to see what this baby does?
00:05:14 --> 00:05:22 Could they have understood that that night the world changed?
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 Reality changed.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 Human experience changed.
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 I mean, the birth of Jesus was not a one-off.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 It was a history-defining event.
00:05:32 --> 00:05:36 Christmas is not the sort of thing that we remember or reminisce
00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 or that we know well or hear lots.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 Christmas is more than angels singing in the sky,
00:05:43 --> 00:05:43 which is impressive.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 It's more than a star that is able to lead men on a journey
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 from one side of the earth to the other to find a king,
00:05:51 --> 00:05:52 as impressive as that is.
00:05:52 --> 00:05:56 It's more than a virgin birth, as impressive as that is.
00:05:58 --> 00:06:02 Christmas is a reality-defining event
00:06:02 --> 00:06:07 because at Christmas, when you look at Jesus laying in the manger,
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 it's God showing up.
00:06:11 --> 00:06:15 It's God putting skin on.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:21 God, the God, the one who created everything just by speaking.
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 The God who is all-powerful, the God who is all-knowing,
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 the God that is infinite.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:27 He has no beginning.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:28 He has no end.
00:06:28 --> 00:06:35 The God who rules over all creation shows up in our experience as a baby,
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 as a human, as one of us.
00:06:39 --> 00:06:43 It is a reality-defining event.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 When you look at Jesus, it's not just a baby.
00:06:46 --> 00:06:47 It's not just a birth.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:48 It's not just a nice story.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:50 It's Emmanuel.
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 It's God with us.
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 This baby is not like anything else.
00:06:57 --> 00:06:58 It's not even a special baby.
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 This is a divine baby.
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 This is God with skin on.
00:07:05 --> 00:07:09 The message of Christmas is so much more than a cute narrative.
00:07:09 --> 00:07:13 It's so much more than a great well-made nativity scene,
00:07:13 --> 00:07:17 which we have on display here in church or that you may see acted out in a drama.
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 The story of Christmas is actually a proclamation.
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 It's God communicating with you, delivering a message.
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 His message is, I am Emmanuel.
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 That is, I am a God who wants to be in your life.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 I'm not a God who enjoys being distant.
00:07:34 --> 00:07:35 I'm not some vague concept of God.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:39 I'm not the God that you just kind of think is off in the ether or up in the clouds
00:07:39 --> 00:07:43 that you turn to on the odd occasion when life's getting difficult.
00:07:44 --> 00:07:47 Christmas is God's way of saying, I want to be in your life.
00:07:47 --> 00:07:52 I love you and I'll do what it takes for you and I to have a relationship.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:58 We have to be so careful not to get familiar with a story like that.
00:07:58 --> 00:08:02 Not to take Christmas for granted because taking Christmas for granted,
00:08:02 --> 00:08:06 taking God for granted is what caused the problem in the first place.
00:08:07 --> 00:08:13 If I was to continue taking my wife for granted unchecked,
00:08:13 --> 00:08:17 if I was to keep presuming that she should do certain things for me,
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 that she should care for me,
00:08:19 --> 00:08:23 and in no way see that I had a responsibility in the relationship,
00:08:24 --> 00:08:28 if I was to expect her to cook and clean and say nice things
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 and look after me and clean the house and do whatever else
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 and see no value in it,
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 but see it as her responsibility and my entitlement,
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 it would not take long for our relationship to break.
00:08:40 --> 00:08:44 Because relationships by definition need two people investing.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 If you've only got one person investing,
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 then at best you've got a servant,
00:08:50 --> 00:08:51 at worst you've got a stalker.
00:08:51 --> 00:08:56 A relationship requires two people that are investing in one another
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 and as soon as one of those people stops investing
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 and starts taking the other one for granted,
00:09:00 --> 00:09:01 relationships break.
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 And that's what happens with God.
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 When we take God for granted,
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 the way it becomes obvious is we start thinking
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 that God should do things for me,
00:09:11 --> 00:09:12 God should do good things,
00:09:12 --> 00:09:13 should look after me,
00:09:13 --> 00:09:17 but we start treating Him like He has no claim on us.
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 He has no authority over us.
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 He has no place to make decisions or dictate our lives.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:24 And when we do that with God,
00:09:24 --> 00:09:25 when we take Him for granted,
00:09:26 --> 00:09:27 the Bible calls it sin.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 It's essentially rejection of Him as King.
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 It's saying, I know that you think you're in charge,
00:09:34 --> 00:09:35 but I want to do it my way.
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 And the result of a broken relationship with God
00:09:39 --> 00:09:42 is that you actually separate yourself,
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 you cut yourself off from the one who gives life,
00:09:46 --> 00:09:47 from the one who creates you,
00:09:47 --> 00:09:48 the one who sustains you.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 And when you cut yourself off from life,
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 the only other option is death.
00:09:53 --> 00:09:56 When we actually take God for granted,
00:09:56 --> 00:09:58 which we all have,
00:09:58 --> 00:09:59 and which we all do,
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 we cut ourselves off from life and death results.
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 Death becomes the immovable object in our life.
00:10:07 --> 00:10:08 It becomes the inevitable.
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 It becomes the shadow that dictates
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 our greatest fears and our highest hopes.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:17 All that's left when you cut yourself off from the God who creates life
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 is the best case scenario,
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 is minimizing the pain you have
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 and trying to hold off death for as long as possible.
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 That is your highest aspiration
00:10:27 --> 00:10:31 when you separate yourself off from the one who is life.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:37 Emmanuel is more than a name or a title for Jesus.
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 He is God showing up with skin on,
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 but it's his job description.
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 Emmanuel is what Jesus has come to achieve.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 It is why God enters the earth as a baby,
00:10:48 --> 00:10:53 because he wants you and I to be able to be with him.
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 He wants to deal with the problem of death.
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 He wants to take that barrier away
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 and give us a chance to know God again.
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 Give us a chance to do what we were designed to do
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 and enjoy forever with God.
00:11:05 --> 00:11:06 Enjoy heaven.
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 When Jesus shows up,
00:11:09 --> 00:11:10 hope shows up.
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 You've got to understand that before Jesus,
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 there is no hope.
00:11:19 --> 00:11:20 Before Jesus,
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 all you can do is try and hold death off
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 for as long as you possibly can.
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 But when Jesus is born,
00:11:27 --> 00:11:28 death is defeated.
00:11:29 --> 00:11:30 When Jesus shows up,
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 God deals with the problem.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34 When Jesus is born,
00:11:34 --> 00:11:40 hope arrives for more than just 60 or 70 or 80 or 100 years.
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 Hope arrives because God offers heaven
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 to people that don't deserve it.
00:11:47 --> 00:11:48 Before Jesus,
00:11:48 --> 00:11:49 there was no hope,
00:11:49 --> 00:11:50 and now,
00:11:50 --> 00:11:51 without Jesus,
00:11:51 --> 00:11:52 there is still no hope.
00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 Christmas is so much more than a story.
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 Christmas is God saying to you,
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 even though you don't deserve it,
00:12:02 --> 00:12:03 I love you
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 and I want you in heaven.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:07 Christmas is God saying,
00:12:08 --> 00:12:08 you don't deserve it,
00:12:08 --> 00:12:09 you've caused the problem,
00:12:10 --> 00:12:11 you're the one who ran away from me,
00:12:11 --> 00:12:12 but I still love you
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 and I can make a way
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 for us to be together.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 I can make a way for you to be forgiven.
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 And Jesus is that way.
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 That little baby lying in a manger
00:12:25 --> 00:12:29 turns up so that we might see God with skin on,
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 so that we might have a chance to know him,
00:12:31 --> 00:12:32 but more than that,
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 that baby has to be born
00:12:35 --> 00:12:38 so that in a few years' time,
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 he might die in your place.
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 The birth of Jesus
00:12:45 --> 00:12:46 is essential
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 for us to be able to have a death
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 that can substitute for the one that we deserve.
00:12:52 --> 00:12:58 We must never get too familiar with Christmas.
00:13:00 --> 00:13:01 Imagine what it was like
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 that very first Christmas night
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 after centuries and generations of people
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 with no hope for anything more
00:13:09 --> 00:13:10 than a limited pain
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 and a longest life possible.
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 Imagine after waiting and waiting and waiting,
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 finally, hope is born.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 Finally, a second chance is on offer.
00:13:24 --> 00:13:25 Finally, God says,
00:13:26 --> 00:13:27 I can give you another way.
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 And you just have to wonder
00:13:30 --> 00:13:31 when you read that passage
00:13:31 --> 00:13:32 that's so familiar in Matthew,
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 did they know
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 what was laying in front of them in the hay?
00:13:38 --> 00:13:39 Did they have any idea
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 that this baby changed everything?
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 That this baby shone light into darkness,
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 offered life where there was only death,
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 and you have to wonder
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 if a couple of thousand years later
00:13:54 --> 00:13:54 as we gather
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 to honour that baby that was born,
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 whether or not we grasp
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 the significance of Jesus,
00:14:02 --> 00:14:02 not as a story,
00:14:03 --> 00:14:04 not as something that we've heard before,
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 but as a message from God to us
00:14:07 --> 00:14:08 which says,
00:14:09 --> 00:14:10 even though you don't deserve it,
00:14:10 --> 00:14:11 I love you,
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 I want you in heaven,
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 and I've made a way.
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 Jesus is Emmanuel.
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 Jesus is God with us.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 Christmas is the undeniable proof
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 that God loves you
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 and he will do whatever it takes
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 to give you a chance to be in heaven.
00:14:32 --> 00:14:36 It is never just a story.
00:14:36 --> 00:14:37 It is never something
00:14:37 --> 00:14:38 you've heard before.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:40 Christmas
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 is God's offer
00:14:42 --> 00:14:43 of hope.
00:14:46 --> 00:14:46 Let's pray.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:50 Father God,
00:14:50 --> 00:14:51 we want to thank you for
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 this story,
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 but that is so much more
00:14:55 --> 00:14:55 than a story.
00:14:56 --> 00:14:57 We want to thank you
00:14:57 --> 00:14:58 that you were willing to come
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 as a baby
00:14:59 --> 00:15:00 so that we might know you.
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 We want to thank you
00:15:03 --> 00:15:04 that even though we don't deserve it,
00:15:04 --> 00:15:05 even though we have done
00:15:05 --> 00:15:06 so much to reject you,
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 that you are a God
00:15:08 --> 00:15:09 who forgives.
00:15:09 --> 00:15:10 You are a God
00:15:10 --> 00:15:11 who loves.
00:15:12 --> 00:15:13 And we ask
00:15:13 --> 00:15:14 that you would help us
00:15:14 --> 00:15:15 to see
00:15:15 --> 00:15:16 in this
00:15:16 --> 00:15:16 manger,
00:15:17 --> 00:15:18 to see in this baby,
00:15:19 --> 00:15:20 the hope for forgiveness,
00:15:21 --> 00:15:22 to see the one
00:15:22 --> 00:15:23 who would grow
00:15:23 --> 00:15:24 to die in our place
00:15:24 --> 00:15:25 so that we could be forgiven,
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 that we might see in him
00:15:28 --> 00:15:28 an invitation
00:15:28 --> 00:15:29 to know you
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 and to be in heaven
00:15:31 --> 00:15:31 with you.
00:15:32 --> 00:15:33 Amen.