Have
you heard the story of the Sunday school teacher who took her children
to the church service? On the way there she asked, “Children, why is it
necessary to be quiet in church? One bright little girl
replied,
"Because people are sleeping."
Not only church people, but I
think that some of the shepherds were sleeping as well--the ones
abiding in the field,, --keeping watch over their flocks by
night.
On that extraordinary evening, we are told that an
angel appeared before them. Wouldn’t it be surprising if an angel
appeared to us, -- to rouse us out of our slumber, to wake us up, to
announce the good tidings of great joy. "To you," the angel
said
to the shepherds, "is born this day in the city of David,-- a Savior,
who is Christ the Lord." And
then,- "Suddenly
there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God
and singing 'Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth
peace, good will to men.'"
Imagine the feelings of those
shepherds,-- simple, honest men, standing there under the
stars,
hearing what must have been the most beautiful music that ever fell
upon mortal ears.-- When you stop and think about
it,--
that song sung by the angels was the very first Christmas carol.
When
they found themselves alone again, the shepherds hurried to see that
which the Lord had made known to them. Countless artists have
tried to depict the scene: --roughly clad
men--
kneeling beside the manger,-- their faces alight
with
adoration. -- In a way those shepherds represent what all of
us
feel at Christmas time: -- wonder and reverence-- mixed with gratitude
and joy,-- it's a blend of emotions that for lack of better
words
we call "the Christmas spirit."
This morning I would like to
focus on eight words spoken by the angel. "To you --- is born
this day --- a Savior." In my mind, these words contain the
heart
of the Christmas Story. Let's begin with "To YOU.”
1.
"To YOU is born this day a Savior...,"says the Angel. In
other
words, each of us must hear this message addressed to us
personally.
That's because Jesus' coming is not
like the visit of some other human dignitary, like, for
example,
Pope Benedict XVI. This good man leads a church of 1 billion,
100
million souls. He tends his flock from Europe to Africa to
the
Americas to Asia. But the massive crowds that
gather when a
Pope visits a country make it impossible to get close to him.
But
when the angel announces “to YOU is born this day a Savior"--
there is a radical difference. "To you" truly means
"to you
personally," “individually."
God addresses us
by name. "To you – John and Rachelle, and
Jack and
Reny, and Bob and Sally. To YOU individually, personally--is
born
a Savior."
We must emphasize that-- that the "You" is
private, “to you” as a single human being. But we
need to
emphasize at the same time the fact that the "You" is also
all-inclusive.
Jesus comes for all men and women
everywhere. Not only for a particular church, not only a
particular race, not only for a particular nation or a particular
culture. This is the American Church in Paris, but it is a church for
all people -- It is, as we like to say, a “Church with a World-Wide
Welcome.” That’s because --
The Savior is for all who hear and all who do not hear--
He is for all who understand and all who do not
understand--
He is for all who believe and all who do not
believe--
The
"you' extends to all,-- without reservation,--without
limitation. That's why the angel says, "I bring you
good
tidings of great joy which will be to all people."
That’s what the Bible teaches in so many places. St. Paul writes:
God our Savior wants all men [and women and boys and girls] to be saved
and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1Tim. 2:3-4 )
For
there is no difference [he writes elsewhere] between Jew and Gentile
--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him.
(Rom. 10:12 )
The great joy of Christmas is intended
for all persons. The Angel announces: To "You" -- a personal and yet
all-inclusive you -- is born this day a Savior.
Let’s look at the next phrase -- THIS DAY.
2. "For to You is born THIS DAY a Savior."
We
need to see that in the birth of Christ, something totally new had
happened. God not only wrapped himself in human garments of
flesh
and blood, he also confined himself to the limits of time--
He
entered into a world operating according to seconds, minutes, hours,
days, weeks, months and years. To you is born "this day" a
Savior.
This meant self-limitation for God. Out of
the timeless and boundless, out of eternity,-- God enters
history.-- To a particular place -- Bethlehem of
Judea. At
a particular time,-- when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.
St.
Paul calls it the “fullness of time.” Gal. 4:4 But
when the
time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under
law. In other words, when the time was just right, God sent
his
Son to live his life under the limitations of time. He had to
be
conscious of clocks, and calendars,-- of sabbaths and holy
days.
From the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus was
conscious of time. At the wedding feast at Cana, his mother
went
to him and said, "They have no more wine." And Jesus responded, "Dear
woman, why do you involve me?…. My time has not yet come."
But
on the night of his arrest, in his prayer to the Father he said,
"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify
you. (John 17:)
Jesus was like us-- in this respect. He
had to make use of the time available to him-- just as we do.
"To
you is born THIS DAY a Savior." Christmas has rolled around again for
each of us this year. But will we be here next
week? Next
month? Next year? How many days does each one of us have to
respond to the angel's message. Some of our loved ones did not make it
to Christmas this year.
When my mother was 96 she was living
by herself in Los Angeles. I called her from Manila and let the phone
ring 10 or 12 times. And I finally hung up and said to Carol with some
concern, “It’s 5:30 in the evening in Los Angeles. I wonder where Mom
is?” Carol took a much more casual approach. She jokingly
said,
“She’s probably in Las Vegas.”
The next day, I called again, and
Mom picked up the phone. I was relieved! I asked, “Where were you last
night when I called?” She said, “Las Vegas.”
I said,
“Mom you know we will be flying home into Los Angeles from the
Phillipians for Christmas Dinner in a few days. And Steve, (our son)
will be driving up from San Diego. He wants to stop at a nice
restaurant and buy four turkey dinners, one for you, one for himself,
one for Carol and one for me, so that we can eat turkey dinner at your
house for Christmas. Would you like that? Is that OK?” I asked.
Mom
didn’t speak English very well. She said, “What you say? If you say
these things, you not come to my house. What? I can’t put turkey in
oven? Shame on you, to say that to me. That’s very bad -- what you say.”
She
was telling me that her time had not yet come. And she was in
no
hurry to give up the activities that brought her pride and self worth,
--the ability to prepare a delicious Christmas dinner for the whole
family… with all the trimmings and the best apple pie I’ve ever eaten
anywhere, along with a whole line of delicious Greek pastries including
baklava. All of that was waiting for us when we got there for Christmas
Day. We didn’t realize it then, but Mom had another six good years
before her time was up.
Time.-- It's such a precious
commodity, to be enjoyed and used with care,-- Our timetable may extend
for a while, or it could be over much sooner than we might
expect.
Last Sunday after the service a young man of 16
walked up to me and told me how very much he appreciate our church, and
how God had been speaking to him during the service. I was very
impressed by him. He had a glow about him. It was as though the Lord
was on this young man.
The next day at midnight, his apartment
caught fire, the fire on Rue des Dames, where one person was burned to
death. He was on the fifth floor, --panicked, ---full of fear, ---thick
smoke, couldn’t see, ---heard explosions, ---people screaming. He was
on his hands and knees, his mind being fueled by carbon monoxide was
losing concentration. He remembered my parting words to him, “Stay
close to Jesus.” He said that he felt Jesus guide him to the window and
then to a ledge where he crept out about ten feet. The firemen arrived
and rescued him. He wrote on Friday asking for prayer for the lady in
the next apartment who is in the Intensive Care Unit.
Here is
his concluding statement: “I definitely think that . . . having such an
amazing church where everyone was so full of God’s love so that I
really felt at home at the American Church…prepared me for all this,
and inspired me to start seeking God more.”
Last Sunday, this
young man had an encounter with God and that prepared him for the
ordeal he went through on the very next night.
You can’t
be certain of tomorrow. That’s why Scripture says, Today, if you hear
his voice, do not harden your hearts. (Ps 95)
Let’s look at the last word of our text.—
3. "For to You is born this day a SAVIOR."
The
angel calls Jesus Savior. As we saw last week, that
is the
meaning of his name: He is the God who Saves!. We need to
ask,
"In what way does he save?
One of the men in my last
congregation, the Union Church of Manila, went through a really rough
year—two deaths in the family, he was kidnapped and was held hostage
for three weeks. Later he found out that what a person he thought was a
close friend betrayed him. “Why did Jesus allow these
terrible
things to happen to me?” That was may friend’s question.
Some of
his Chinese friends urged him to go to a Feng Shui (FUNG
SHWAY)
expert. These are Buddhist practitioners who come into your home,
examine the geometry of your furnishings, and advise you on the
placement of your bed, whether it should face the north, east, south,
or west. They tell you where to place your stove and table. This is an
ancient Chinese practice of placement and arrangement of space to
achieve harmony with the environment.
This can get very
expensive. They can tell you that the main entrance of your house needs
to repositioned on the opposite side of your house.-- so that it can
face the east. They employ astrology—checking the stars, numerology by
checking out your birth date numbers. And palmistry, reading the lines
on the palm of your hands. All of these things supposedly reveal truth
and insight regarding your life.
So to whom should our friend turn? The FUNG SHWAY expert
or to Jesus Christ?
Here’s
what this man said to me, “I will only be in this life 70 or 80 years
and then I will face eternity. I will have to answer the question
whether I committed my soul to the Savior, Jesus Christ, or to some
other god or religion or force or idea. I have been tempted to turn to
Buddhism. But I cannot. I am a Christian, committed to Jesus Christ as
my Savior!”
And then he said, “You know pastor, years ago,
this verse from Exodus made a deep impression on me. He turned in his
Bible to Exodus 34:4 and read --- “Do not worship any other god, for
the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
How many ways is Jesus our Savior? We can’t count the number. Our Old
Testament reading says that
he opens the eyes of the blind, and the ears of the deaf are unstopped.
The lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the speechless sing
for joy.
What does that mean? It means that
He instructs us, guides us, encourages us, and loves us even when we
least deserve it--
He teaches us how to live in harmony with our families and with one
another--
He enables us to put fear aside and walk into the New Year with courage
and confidence.
On
Christmas Eve many years ago, a friend asked me if I would like to
invite this Jesus, this Son of God, this Savior, into my
life. I
nodded and said, "OK."-- And so we bowed our heads
and I
prayed a simple prayer, something like this: "Lord, forgive
me
for neglecting the most important relationship in life all of these
years--my relationship to you. Thank You for being born into
this
world, and for dying on the cross for me. I believe You are
alive
today, and I want You to come into my life and give me a new
start." That was it. And you know -- That
was the
most significant thing I have ever done.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem so that He could become your
Savior. If you haven't already, open your heart to Him today.
We’ve
been talking about the Angels Announcement: It’s a great message, a
joyous message, a most relevant message. And it's wrapped up
in
these words, To you--
is born this day--
a Savior! Amen!
