JESUS: LIGHT OF THE WORLD - The centerpiece of our lives 12-18-22

JESUS: LIGHT OF THE WORLD -  The centerpiece of our lives 12-18-22

 

The craziness of the season

 

Christmas Eve was a hectic day. Father was worried with bundles and burdens. Mother's nerves reached the breaking point more than once. The little girl seemed to be in the way wherever she went. Finally, she was hustled up to bed. As she knelt to pray, the feverish excitement so mixed her up, she said, "Forgive us our Christmases, as we forgive those who Christmas against us."

 

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 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 time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 

 

And 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 a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 

 

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 

 

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 

 

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told 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. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”

                              Luke 2:1-20 NIV

 

I.  THE CENTERPIECE OF THAT HOLY NIGHT

 

One of the most enjoyable jobs I ever had before entering the ministry was when I worked for Sears as a salesman in the Men’s Department. I worked there while I was in high school, and part of the time while I was in college. And always the most memorable night of the year to be scheduled to work was on Christmas Eve. Now, people who show on Christmas Eve are desperate! They’re panic buyers. You can show people the oldest, ugliest thing you have in stock on Christmas Eve – and they’ll take it without arguing a bit. It doesn’t matter if it’s the wrong size, or the wrong color. It doesn’t matter if it’s mismatched, or if the entire sleeve is missing! People will usually take it and say, “That’s alright – I’m going to have to exchange everything after Christmas anyway! I just need something to put under the tree.” You would not believe how many people shop like that.

 

And if the most memorable day of the year to work is the day before Christmas – then the most dreaded day to work, hands down, is the day after Christmas. People stand in line from opening time to closing waiting to exchange and return all of those ill-advised purchases. And many of them can be awful mean and nasty about it – if you dare to ask them for so much as a receipt. You always see an amazing absence of “Joy to the World”. . . “Peace on Earth”. . . “Good Will to Men” on that day. People are impatient and irritable when they’re waiting to make their exchanges. And that’s one of the natural reflections of a Christ-less Christmas.

 

But baby Jesus was the most important part of that first Christmas night

 

“And 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 a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.””

                              Luke 2:8-12 NIV

 

               A.  A baby

         B.  Wrapped in cloths

               C.  Lying in a manger

 

Baby Jesus on our front stoop

 

II.  THE CENTERPIECE OF CHRISTMAS

 

Norman Vincent Peale writes of spending Christmas in Africa with his wife, children and grandchildren. He was hesitant but his wife told him he would love every minute of it. And yet, as Christmas day approached he was troubled because everything Christmas was missing: being home, having a Christmas tree, people singing carols in the streets, hanging Christmas lights, snow crunching under his feet and of course all of the smells and aromas of Christmas.

 

But there was none of that there in Africa. We had been told there would be a special dinner out for us on Christmas Eve. Even this did not cheer me; I thought it might be an artificial occasion with everyone trying too hard to be merry. When I came out near dinnertime I saw that in the eating tent a straggly brown bush had been set up, decorated with small colored lights and some tinsel and red ribbon.

 

We were called to the edge of the river, where chairs had been set up for all of us so that we could see, on the other side, two herders guarding their cattle, their spear tips gleaming in the gathering dusk. And at that peaceful, almost timeless sight, I felt something stir within me, for I knew that these herders and their charges came from a long line that had not changed in thousands of years. They belonged to their landscape just as the shepherds on the hills outside Bethlehem belonged to theirs.

 

And at that moment one of our grandchildren began to sing, hesitantly, tentatively, "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Gradually others joined in: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and then "Joy to the World!" Soon we were all singing, and as we sang, everything seemed to change; the sense of strangeness was gone. I looked around the group, our children, their children, singing songs, sharing feelings that in a very real way went back almost 2,000 years to that simple manger in a simple town, with the herders standing by in a parched and primitive land. Then someone began to read from Luke: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night..."

 

As the story went on I thought, How wonderful and simple this is, so wonderful and simple that only God could have thought of it. So when the carols and the Bible reading ended and we walked back to the eating tent for our dinner, I knew a complete sense of peace. It was in that simple setting that Norman Vincent Peale and his family welcomed the child.

 

“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 a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.””

                              Luke 2:10-12 NIV

 

A.  Good news

               B.  Great joy for all the people

 

III.  THE CENTERPIECE OF GOD’S PLAN

 

Christmas is not about presents but His presence! 

                              Tony Abrams

 

“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.”

                              Luke 2:10-11 NIV

 

A.  Messiah

 

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.””

                              Matthew 1:18-21 NIV

 

               B.  The Lord

 

“While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?””

                             Matthew 22:41-45 NIV

 

One morning in December 2009, Bill McDonald read in the paper that a local man, Joe Day, was sick with small-cell lung cancer. That meant Day couldn’t assemble the magnificently lit, handcrafted Christmas displays that had made his house in Versailles, Indiana, an annual holiday pilgrimage site for as many as 95,000 people. 

 

Day had made his own quick decision 33 Christmases ago when he came home one afternoon from his job as an electrician and found his five-year-old grandson, Nicholas, waiting. “What do you want to do today?” Day asked. “Let’s build a reindeer, Papa,” Nicholas said. They fashioned one using wood from a fallen tree, then set it out on the lawn and lit up its cherry-red nose for the holidays. Each year, Day added to his handi-work, placing reindeer on a track above his roof and winding lights as if they were electric vines around his windows and doors. Eventually thousands of lights, figures, mannequins, and models filled his yard and spilled into his sister’s property next door. 

 

But not this year until Bill McDonald thought, “It wouldn’t be Christmas without Joe’s lights. Somebody has got to help this guy.” So McDonald called Joe Day and said, “You don’t know me but I want to help you get your lights up.” Through word of mouth, McDonald and his wife, Toni, enlisted the Knights of Columbus, the Masons, the Lions, local firefighters, friends, and strangers to set up Day’s displays. For two days, more than 100 volunteers climbed in and around Day’s house and yard, following his hand-drawn diagrams that showed where everything should go. On the evening of December 12, with crowds of volunteers cheering him on, Day flipped the switch and lit up the spectacle. “This is what the Lord wanted us to do,” says McDonald, “to pull together, and be together, and help one another.”

 

If Bill McDonald can help insure Joe Day’s plans were continued, let’s pull together and help one another continue God’s plan.

 

CONCLUSION

 

Is Jesus the centerpiece of your life?

 

Jesus - the centerpiece of that holy night, the centerpiece of Christmas, is the centerpiece of God’s plan for you and me.

 

CHALLENGE

 

What will you do with what you have just heard?  How will you respond to the Holy Spirit working within you?  The Challenge is intended to give us an opportunity to contemplate what God is calling us to do in our lives.  Consider these questions and write down your answers.  

 

               1.  What is your favorite part of the nativity story?  

               2.  Which of the human characters in the nativity do you resonate with the most?

               3.  What is the message of the nativity story?

               4.  What is the centerpiece of your life?

               5.  How can you make Jesus the centerpiece of your life?

 

INVITATION

 

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.