The Journey to Town

It’s good to see everybody here. We have a lot of folks out this morning for especially for sickness. One of them includes our pastor. I think it started with with honor and then and then went to I think then it went to Luke and then it went to Becca and then I think Jeremy and Annie got about the same time. So they’ve been struggling. He did a funeral yesterday. They say he looked kind of green. So as we go to our time of prayer, I know everybody here knows somebody that’s kind of under the weather. Also pray for our we want to pray for our international missions. You know when you give to Lottie Moon, a 100% of that goes to the missionaries. It doesn’t go to overhead cost. It doesn’t accounting. It doesn’t go to any of that. 100% of what you give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goes to our missionaries. And I want to tell you, one thing I like about being Southern Baptist is when we send missionaries out, they don’t have to worry about where their income’s coming from, their salary. And that takes a lot of I want to tell you that takes a lot of pressure off somebody. And so they we can kind of turn them loose to with the gospel and take care of some of those kind of needs. And so so pray for our missionaries like in Chile and and those kind of things, but pray for our pastor this morning especially and and his well-being.

And I want to also encourage you with this. I want to encourage you to be here Wednesday night for Christmas Eve. You know, there are some special services that we have, but that’s that’s really kind of special. There’s something about just saying, you know, we’re going to kind of pause it and we’re going to go down to church and we’re just for a for a short service. It’s not a long service. It’s just a it’s a sweet, precious service. We’ll have the Lord’s supper and we’ll have a candlelight service and there’ll be Christmas music, but for a short time, we’re going to remember what it’s what the re real reason’s all about. And I just think that’s kind of important because I don’t know how your life is at Christmas, but it gets pretty I mean, the hustle and bustle and and and it almost over overwhelms you. And you may say, “Well, we got family.” Well, bring your family. Let them come, too. And just for about an hour or less, just experience what Christmas is really all about. So, let me encourage you to do that.

Now, I want you to bow your heads. I want you to close your eyes and I want you to again pray for our pastor, pray for our missionaries, pray for those maybe that that are just kind of under the weather that you know. Let’s do that right now. Father, thank you. Thank you for this time of year and what it means. Thank you for the fact that You cared enough that You came down in human form when You didn’t have to. Left the throne room of heaven and decided to come down as one of us. Wow. Even the fact that You even just came through the birth canal just blows me away. And then everything a child would experience, You did. Everything a teenager experiences, You did. Everything a young man experiences, You did. And He didn’t have to. That we could never look at You and say, “You don’t know how I feel.” And then He went to a cross. A baby who went to a cross. Wow. That just that boggles my mind that You would love me that much. Father, we lift up our pastor and his family and their illness. And I lift up all the others that we know. Help them to feel well. Most important one that they would know Your presence. And now, Lord, as we open Your word, and we talked about what happened a little over 2,000 years ago, touch our hearts, make our minds different, bring us closer to You, and then change us so when we leave that we’ll be we’ll be so different that the world will notice. And when they ask why we’re different, we’ll have something to tell them. And so Lord, we give this precious time to You and we ask this in Your son’s most precious name. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

If you got your Bibles, I’d like you to do with me is turn with me to the book of Luke. Basically, it’s a Christmas story. It’s Luke 2 8-20. And we’re going to kind of go over that this morning. It’s it’s probably it’s not anything new, but I remember when I was when I was looking through this and studying it. There are some things about the Christmas story that just kind of comes back to me that I go, man, I just I’d forgotten about that. And so hopefully we’ll have a little bit of that this morning.

So Luke chapter 2, we’re going to start with verse 8. Luke chapter 2, follow along. And in the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. And then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid. For look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that’ll be for all people. Today in the city of David, a savior was born for you who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angels praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to people He favors.” And when the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said one to another, “Well, let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what that which has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” And they hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. And after seeing them, they reported the message that they were told about this child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherd said to them. But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard which were just as they had been told.

Amazing story. We hear it every year. I’m just always amazed at who God invites. Came across a couple stories this week that I thought is is kind of interesting about where we go in life and who’s important and who’s not important. Here’s one. You may have heard this. He was known as a brilliant young boy, a child prodigy, the very crown jewel of Vienna. By the time he was five, he had written an advanced concerto on the harpsichord. Before he was 10, he had composed and published several violin sonatas and was playing from memory the best works of Bach and Handel. After his 12th birthday, he composed and conducted his own opera and was awarded an honorary appointment as concert master with the Salzburg Symphony Orchestra. Someone that I know while they were in Vienna and touring the palace grounds of Salzburg and listening to some of his works by an orchestra said it was amazing. They said, “We were in the very hall where this brilliant musician once conducted the orchestra himself, a young boy and a guest of Austria’s Queen.” He died when he was only 35 years old. Before his brief life ended, he had written canadas, operetas, hymns, ortoriio, 48 symphonies, and over a dozen operas. He wrote around 600 works in all. His name Johannes Christophamus, Wolf, Gangus, Amadeus, Theophilus, Mosart. Man, imagine being in a playground with that name. Wow.

The tragedy is that Mosart fell from the his beginnings as a child prodigy to an impoverished, obscure young man. His fall from greatness was so swift and so devastating that by the time he died, he virtually had no friends. He was living in poverty. He wasted his money and was for the most part forgotten. Even his widow was indifferent at his burial. And only a few people came into church for his funeral. Then because of a sudden storm, they never went to his grave site. And by the time anyone bothered to inquire, the location of his grave was impossible to identify. The unmarked grave of Mosart, who was perhaps the most gifted composer of all time, was lost forever. Amazing how you can go from here to here.

Now, here’s one a little more recent. What a tragedy to lose such influence, prestige, and wealth. A more recent example would be the brilliant businessman William Durant, who single-handedly created a company called General Motors. It is said that more than 50 men became millionaires just because they were part of his team. Unfortunately, however, through a series of poor decisions, Durant eventually lost much of his fortune and then control of the company. In spite of all his valiant efforts, he eventually lost his bid for power and he went bankrupt. The last job he had before he died just over 60 years ago was managing a bowling alley in Flint, Michigan. At the time, he was too poor to even own one of the several million cars that his company made.

How do we go from here to here? How I mean, and what does God think it’s important? You ever wonder about that? When I look at this message of the Christmas story, to me, one of the great parts of this story, I think, is in one word: simplicity. It’s a simple message. I think the gospel is a simple message. And I think when we look at this passage today, we’ll see the simplicity of Christmas in five areas. And that’s really what I want to look at today.

Number one is this: I think the simplicity of the men around the manger. Number one, I want—let’s just look at the shepherds. Shepherds are kind of an interesting breed. If you look back in Israel’s history, some of the great men of Scripture were shepherds. Abraham, the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—were shepherds. David was a shepherd. We see a lot of the prophets were shepherds. So shepherds were part of the social mindset of that area. They kept, you know, the animals, and the animals produced milk, and they produced fur. They produced, you know, of course, meals when they needed them, those kind of things. So shepherds were a part of this.

But over time, shepherds became more nomadic, and as much of Israel many times became—especially around Jerusalem—became more urban, shepherds were kind of cast out. And because of being around with the animals all the time, they were taught to be unclean, and really, basically, the only thing lower than a shepherd was a leper. They were put in the same category as prostitutes and tax collectors. They couldn’t go to the temple for worship, continually unclean. Couldn’t even have a sheep herd except in the wilderness.

Yet Jesus will refer to Himself—listen to this now—as the door to the sheep. Psalms 23 starts out with what? “The Lord is my shepherd.” Pastors are to shepherd their flock. 1 Peter 5. But unclean, couldn’t wash, be around blood and dead animals, couldn’t be a witness in a court of law. And yet I’m always amazed that God says, “These are the kind of guys I want around my boy in a manger on Christmas.” Shepherds.

Jesus is referred to as a good shepherd, John 10:11; the chief shepherd, 1 Peter 4:5; the great shepherd, Hebrews 13:10. And here’s the neat thing about shepherding: it has become a metaphor for a lifetime of service and a call to ministry. Jeremy is the shepherd of this church, and God will hold him in account for that. It is a title Christ would have us give to those men who serve the church, lead the church, feed the church. Our deacons are shepherds to this church.

I always find it interesting that the first to hear that Jesus had been born wasn’t even family. You know what it was? Shepherds, and the final sacrificial lamb was now born. It’s interesting how these shepherds get told an angel came. Now you got to understand, angels hadn’t been heard from for what—at least 5,600 years. Probably the last angel to appear in Scripture would be to Daniel, which would be the same angel, Gabriel, who appears to Zacharias and Mary. Shepherds—the simplicity of the men that nobody else had a use for but God. And then God would use that very term throughout Scripture, especially the New Testament, talking about that.

How about the simplicity of the message? Look what it says. He looks at them and He says, “Don’t be afraid.” I’m kind of like—I like that message. “For look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For today in the city of David, a Savior was born to you.” Who is? And He gives them three names: the Messiah, the Savior, the Lord. The message. Sometimes I think we forget the message. You know, messages can mean a lot of things. Have you ever had a message that comes to you instantly that you know is not a good message? I don’t go to barbers anymore. I kind of just do my own thing because it doesn’t take a barber. I mean, he takes the same amount of money, but I’m not in that chair very long. And it was probably because of that, probably is the reason, you know, we first got our own little clippers. And I’ll never forget, and Beth does it for me, and I’ll never forget one time she was about to cut my hair [snorts] and so I, you know, I bring everything out and she’s there and she’s about to put, she’s about to cut, and all of a sudden I hear, and then I hear the words, “Oh my Lord.” That is not, when someone is cutting your hair, that is not the message you want to hear. And what she had done, she had forgot to put the little adjustment thing on there, and so it was bare. So all of a sudden I had this little raccoon tail on the back of my head. It stayed there for about two, three weeks. I don’t know if y’all remembered it in church. We tried to cut around it, make it look a little better. And [laughter] she still cuts my hair, but the first thing I do, I put everything on the clippers, make sure it happens. That’s not the message. Think about this message: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” What a message! And look who He gives it to. >> [laughter] >> The last that you would think He would give it to.

In the early 1830s, two different groups of men, one in America, one in England, were independently racing to build an electric telegraph system. The American group would win the day with a unique use of magnetic pulses and a special code invented by their leader, a guy named Samuel Morse. Samuel, by occupation, was a painter. He did portraits but soon gave that up. Now if you can imagine, it was probably a little less than 200 years ago, the fastest way to send a message from New York to California was Pony Express. What would start in one part of the country would take about eight days to deliver by horse and rider, and that would change by a guy named Henry Morse just sending that message. The Wright brothers would use it in 1903, used the Morse code to send a telegraph to their father that December, telling him about their first flight. Someone said that when they saw the picture of that telegram, it was kind of interesting that historic day that Samuel Morse made his first public demonstration of his telegraph. He sent a message from the office of the Supreme Court of the United States to a station in Baltimore. And here’s what he said: “What hath God wrought?” So I said, “Do you know that when these shepherds show up to Mary and Joseph and the baby, I’m wondering through their minds, they’re kind of thinking, ‘What hath God wrought? The Savior of the world.’”

The message is simple. What He wrought was He brought in the Savior, the Lord, the Anointed One. The simplicity of our message. Do you realize that when you go out to witness to someone, the message is really simple? It’s just what God has. I’d start with what God has done for you, how He’s changed your life. You can go in and people argue all the time about, “Well, I don’t believe all that.” I think the message is clear. I think the Bible’s clear. And I’m one of those literalists that believe the Bible is the Bible. I know there’s a lot of people that I listen on TV and different things, and I admire some things about their life, but every once in a while I hear one of them say this: “So, I just think the Bible’s pretty much mostly allegory, that these stories didn’t really happen. They just have deeper meanings.” I’m sitting there saying, “No, sir. That’s not true.” See, I believe that the Holy Spirit, the message impregnated a young teenage virgin gal, probably between 13 and 15 years old, which again boggles my mind, and through her brought in the Savior of the world. I believe what Noah did. I believe there was a Noah and the animals were put on an ark. I believe all those things. I believe that the Red Sea parted. And the reason I believe that is if I can believe Genesis chapter 1 that God created everything, everything else is small stuff. The message is really simple. That’s what I Believe. The angel of the Lord could appear to anyone, and yet He appeared to a group of people who spoke with a specialized skill set: shepherds who were trained in inspecting the sacrificial lambs and the stone manger. See, I believe that there’s the simplicity of men, the message, and I believe there is simplicity of the moment. Imagine where they’re at.

In the book of Micah in chapters 4 and 5, it talks about where Jesus would be born. It’s an incredible prophecy. Not only that, He would be born in a place called Bethlehem. Now, there are two Bethlehems in Israel. One’s in the northern part, but one in the southern part, a place of Judea, just about 56 miles from Jerusalem. And it says He will be born in Bethlehem Ephratah. Now, the reason that’s important is because something had happened there hundreds of years ago. A woman of Scripture by the name of Rachel had given birth. That would be Jacob’s wife. And she gave birth to her last son and died in childbirth. And the name of that last child was by the name of Benjamin.

It’s interesting how what Benjamin means. There’s two ways you can pronounce it. If we pronounce it the way that Rachel probably would have liked to have pronounced Benonai, it would have meant a person of sorrows. Where do we see that in Scripture? The Bible says Jesus was called the man of sorrows. However, what’s interesting too is that Jacob would have probably liked the actual Benjamin, which means son of the right hand. Where do we see that? Ephesians 1:20, where He will be seated at what? The right hand of the Father.

But on that place today, or back in those days, there was a tower, and the tower had a name. It was called Migdal Eder. Now, what’s interesting about this tower is that Bethlehem was kind of a shepherd’s town, and many of the priests, many of them believe, were from the tribe of Levi. And the sheep herds that they had there were for one purpose, and they were to bring to come in at Passover for the Passover meal. You see, at the same time that Jesus would have entered the eastern gate through the sheep gate, would come about a quarter of a million sheep that would be slaughtered that week for Passover, and these were the guys that actually did the sheep.

And a little place called Migdal Eder was a place only about—it’s about a mile from downtown, if there’s a downtown Bethlehem or the main part of the city or town—and there they would have had a tower, and then underneath they had like a little grotto, and in that grotto they would actually give birth to the sheep. And they would take those sheep, and they would wrap them in cloth, making sure that number one, that there was no blemishes on that sheep because that sheep would be probably offered for sacrifice later on. And many times those shepherds would actually right there on that location offer the sheep for sacrifice.

How appropriate possibly that many, many theologians believe that Mary and Joseph would have been in that location exactly where sheep would have been born, sheep would have been wrapped, sheep, you know, would have been offered for sacrifice right there in that location about a mile on the northern part of the city of Bethlehem.

The moment—what was that moment like? Not only was that moment amazing, but imagine the moment in the fields. Imagine the entire heavenly—you know, this isn’t one, two, three angels. That’s a trio or quartet of angels up there singing. Imagine that literally the heavens full of a chorus of angels singing glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will.

Now listen to the translation: “And to men in whom He is well pleased.” Does that change anything for you? Because that’s what the Greek says. Now, we’ll kind of bring it down a little bit, and we’ll say, “And you know, peace on earth, goodwill toward men,” but it’s in those He is well pleased with the original language. Does that change? I remember the first time Beth and I saw that. We were sitting in the car driving, and she goes, “Did you get that?”

What would please God for us? What pleases God is the fact that we have relationship with Him. What pleases God is that we come humbly and say, “I can’t do things on my own.” What pleases God Is when He says, “I accept.” When we say, “I accept what You did for me,” and I and and I bring that to me. That’s what pleases God, in whom He is well pleased. The men, the message, the moment. And then the simplicity of the mission. It’s pretty clear, isn’t it? I like I like what the first mission was. Verse 15. When the angels had left and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what’s happened, which the Lord has made known to us. Let’s go. Let’s go see this thing.” I don’t know about you, but they wanted to see it. If it was good enough for an angel to come and tell them, “Don’t be scared.” If they see an angelic chorus of angels singing and then all of a sudden are gone. Well, and then they go there and they see this amazing thing and they know who this is because the names that the angel had given the names of Christ, the anointed one, Lord. Do you realize that the the word Lord in in in in the Greek it’s the word curios and in the Greek translation of the Old Testament it’s mentioned 6,000 times the same word it’s the Greek translation of the word Yahweh you think it’s important Lord equals God equals Jesus I can tell you other religions Mormons can’t say that. Muslims can’t say that. Jehovah’s Witnesses can’t say that. In Romans 10:9, it says this. If you make the statement that Jesus is Lord, you’ll be saved. And they worship just as the angels wor, you know, worshiped. The moment the mission the Bible says that they left and what they hurried off found Mary there and then after seeing them they reported the message they were told about this child and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds had seen to said to them. First of all, can you imagine a shepherd walking up and saying, “Let me tell you what I just saw in the field and in a manger.” When was the last time you went up to someone and said, “Let me tell you what I just saw. Let me tell you what God did for me today. Not just when I got saved, but how He operated with me this week. Let me tell you what I just read in scripture and God just touched my heart. Let me tell you how I got saved and what God did in my life and why I’m different now.” When was the last time you just did that? I’m not it’s it’s it’s just amazing and then the simplicity of the mystery. How does this happen? How does the creator of the universe that we we don’t know even when it has just always been there creates the universe and then He makes and then He and then He and then He creates us in His own image and we rebel but in the in that whole process He says I’m going to do what you can’t and then He comes down in human form and how one of the third parts of Him the the Holy Spirit comes down and impregnates a young teenage girl and then she gives birth to the savior of mankind. How do you explain that? I got three words. I don’t know. I can’t explain it. The Bible says in Isaiah 15 I mean 55 that His ways are not our ways. His words are not our words. I was talking with somebody before church today. If God could fit into this, He wouldn’t be a very big God. But I’m here to tell you this that He’s He’s pretty amazing. The mystery is is unbelievable. But I do know this. This I do know that He loves me and He loves you. And John 3:16 is a very simple message. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him will never perish but have everlasting life. Simple. Peace on earth and men in whom He is well pleased. You know you can do with God. You can do one of two things. You can run away from Him or you can run to Him. These shepherds could have run away. Angel shows up in my face and says, “Do not be afraid.” I’m thinking, “You’re on the wrong end of the conversation.” But God comes up to us and He says, “Don’t be afraid. Let me tell you what I’m going to do for you. I’m going to love you because that’s who I am. I’m a lot of other things, but I’m love. And I’m going To come down, and I’m gonna take care of what what you can’t take care of, and I’m going to handle that. It’s going to be amazing. You know, God gets blamed for a lot of things, but He is still love and He is still peace.

I mean, I I love the the attributes of of of the Holy Spirit. Galatians chapter 5 says, “God is what?” When we get the Holy Spirit, He’s what? Peace and love and joy, patience and kindness and goodness and gentleness and self-control. Do you not want that in your life? But as humans, we kind of go away from that. We We don’t want it simple. We want our way. We do things.

And one of the one of my favorite stories about this time of year that I that I’ve read many times happened on Christmas Eve in 1914. Christmas Eve in 1914, many of our guys were at war. World War I. And I don’t know if you’ve ever studied World War I, but it’s called trench warfare was. And it was I’m just thinking it doesn’t get any ugly. War doesn’t get any uglier than that. And I came across this video that’s based on a true story.

[music] Somewhere on the le [music] river in the frost of 14, a weary German officer riots home of what he seen [music] and gets from home in midnight. Gingerbread and woolen thread, but artillery [music] still thundered as he counted up the dead. And just past Christmas morning, through the smoke and winter grave, a Bavarian raised a pine [music] tree like a lantern of hope in the haze. And across the broken [music] silence came a shout from Scottish [music] men killed Highlanders [music] he wrote wishing us Christmas once again. Who knows how peace [music] begins? Maybe one brave voice, maybe one small light on Christmas morning. Even enemies can remember their [music] human for just for a night. We remember [music] we’re human for a night. A lone Bavarian rifleman [music] crawled [singing] out through the wire [music] met a Scott with cigarettes [music] where the mud met the fire. [music] Soon the trench is [singing] empty. [music] Men shook hands in no man’s land.

[music]

The candles traded for cigar as they [music] helped each other stand and said war was suspended. [music] The peace of Christmas had come. Even officers [music] exchanging words about daughters gifts and home. And in the ruins of commons, a monastery without a roof. [music] They sang Silent Night together. A fragile holy proof. Who knows how peace [music] begins? Maybe one brave [singing] voice, maybe one [music] small life on Christmas morning. Even enemy [music] can remember their human for human for a night. But at dawn on the 26th, the guns began again. When doains rattled, he wrote as command reclaimed the men. He confessed to his [music] dear Edith. We’ll be hard to shoot [music] them now. [singing] But orders are orders in wartime. Even when your heart says no, [music] not after this, not now. WHO KNOWS HOW peace begins? [music] Maybe one brave [singing] voice, maybe one small light of a very end with a Christmas tree, [music] a Scott stepping out from a fight. And history remembers the guns, but heaven recalls the sight. [music] And soldiers laid their weapons down. [music] And we’re human for just for a [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] year for life.

You know, I’ve known about peace. It doesn’t start at the White House. Doesn’t start at the courthouse. Doesn’t start at the state house, schoolhouse. Last time I checked, peace stands at your house and my house. And it’s because of what happened on a night over 2,000 years ago where nobody, just simple nobodies, came to a manger and witnessed probably the greatest event outside of what He would end up doing called the crucifixion that we’ll ever we’ll ever know. That’s where peace begins.

And I don’t know, I don’t need to know everything about your story, but I know there’s enough folks here that need some peace in their life. And there’s only one place you find that. And it’s what the angel said to those shepherds. It’s found in the one we call Lord, the anointed one, and our Savior. And His name is Jesus. It’s a simple message. It was a simple moment. The mission’s still pretty simple and the mystery is amazing. Don’t make it any harder than it is. I find this when you turn your life and not only make Him your Savior, but you make Him your Lord, peace has just a way of happening. And He wants, if you’ve got it, He wants you To share it. And my thing for you today, would that be that you would share that? If you can do it in the middle of a war, why couldn’t He do it today? Let’s pray.

Father, thank You for reminding me of how simple You make it. You use simple people. It’s a simple message. It’s a simple mission. Even the the mystery is simple that You just love us. And I I can’t explain that. I can’t fathom that. I But what I do know is that that’s what You do. We wouldn’t have invited the shepherds to a birth party. We just wouldn’t have. But You did. Would we use a teenage girl who was a nobody in in a place called Nazareth? No. But You did. Would You have had it in a in [clears throat] a manger and not a big hotel or a nice hospital? No. But You did. You just seem to always keep things simple. So we can never say You don’t know how we feel. You’ve not only experienced it, You’ve dealt with it.

Father, there may be somebody here today that needs You. My prayer was that they would they would just say, “Lord, I I want to accept that simple message. I want to simplify my life. I want to get right with You.” Lord, I’d love to pray with somebody like that. And I know You would like to enter their heart. There might be somebody today who’s already made that decision, but it says, you know, I just have kind of walked away from You and I just want to get back to just having a simple relationship with the God of the universe and just get back on track. My prayer is that that they will do that today, too. Whatever decision we need to make, help us to make it in Your Son’s precious name. Amen.