TARGETING JESUS

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
4 December 2005

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 2

1. In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
2. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
3. And everyone went to his own town to register.
4. 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.
5. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
6. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
7. and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
12. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15. 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."
16. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
17. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
18. and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
19. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
20. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

-- there once was this single mother who had two young sons -- she was having a difficult time with them and they were getting in to all kinds of trouble -- one day, after they had been caught taking something that didn't belong to them, the mother went to talk to her pastor -- "Leave it to me," he said. "I'll make sure and put the fear of God in them and make sure they know that they need Jesus in their life"
-- so, on Sunday morning, the preacher started on one of those hellfire and brimstone sermons -- at one point, he turned and pointed his finger right at the oldest boy and shouted, "Do you know where Jesus is? Do you know where Jesus is?" -- the oldest boy jumped up from the pew and took off running for the back of the church with his little brother hot on his heels
-- when they made it outside the church, the older brother turned to his little brother and said, "We're in trouble now." His brother said, "What do you mean?" -- the older brother said, "Jesus is missing and they think we did it."

-- now I know that you might have heard this little joke before, but I wanted to use it to introduce the message for this morning -- if you have been following the media or have been out shopping in the past couple of weeks, you might be thinking to yourself that Jesus is missing from Christmas in America
-- just the other day I was flipping through on the t.v. and stopped on Fox News -- Hannity and Colmes had an evangelical Christian on debating a representative from the ACLU about Lowes -- they were reporting that Lowes was not selling "Christmas" trees this year but were instead selling "holiday" trees
-- we heard the same thing just a few weeks ago about Walmart when the news broke that the employees there had been instructed to wish customers "Happy Holidays" instead of the usual "Merry Christmas"
-- it seems like Lowes and Walmart and a lot of the larger department stores have looked at the religious and ethnic diversity in our country and are going to extremes to not offend anyone of another religion by promoting Christmas in their stores
-- just last year we saw the same thing with Target, when Target refused to allow the Salvation Army kettles and bellringers collect donations outside their stores
-- that leaves a lot of us who go out shopping this time of year asking the same question that the preacher asked those little boys, "Do you know where Jesus is?" -- He seems to be missing and is no where in sight even though this is the time of the year that we celebrate His birth

-- however, this should not really come as a surprise to us -- in the familiar passage that I opened with, we read Luke's account of the first Christmas -- according to Luke, when Mary and Joseph went to the town of Bethlehem to register in Caesar's census, they couldn't find any place to stay -- and so Jesus was born, probably in a stable, and was laid in a manger because there wasn't any room for them in the inn
-- let me ask you a question: Have we reached the point where there's just not room for Jesus in America, either? -- Are we so concerned with multiculturalism and pluralism that we've left Christ out of Christmas?
-- the answer is an emphatic, "No!" -- you can't keep Christ out of Christmas any more than you can keep Christ out of this world -- just because there was no room for Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem that night, it didn't keep God from leaving His throne and being born as a baby in a manger -- God is sovereign and His plans and His purposes and His will will come to pass, whether we choose to recognize it or not
-- in John 1:10-12, we read, "He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, and His own did not receive Him. Yet, to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God."
-- in other words, Lowes and Walmart and Target and all the other stores and all the media giants can try to exclude Christ from Christmas -- they can try to change the name and nature of the holiday -- they can take the words, "under God" from our pledge -- but they can't remove the presence of the living God from our midst -- He comes to those who receive Him -- He comes to those who believe in His name -- He comes to those He calls His children

-- we read in this passage that there was no room for Christ's family in the inn in Bethlehem that night -- maybe they were all asleep and didn't recognize the Christ child when He came -- maybe they just wouldn't receive Him as their Lord -- maybe they just wouldn't make room in their hearts for Him
-- and so we read that God went to those who would receive Him and recognize Him -- He sent His angels to the shepherds who were out in the fields that night -- and the angels announced the birth of the Savior to those who would believe and who would act on what they had been told
-- look back at verse 8

8. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
12. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

-- here we see a perfect picture of the purpose of the Advent season -- as you know, Advent is a time when we prepare our hearts and get ready for the coming of Christ -- the angels in this passage come and prepare the hearts of the shepherds to receive their Savior by telling them what He will look like and where they will find Him -- they share with them the good news that Christ has been born in Bethlehem
-- and look what the shepherds did -- look at verse 15

15. 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."
16. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
17. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
18. and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

-- they immediately got up and went to find Christ -- and when they had found Jesus lying in the manger -- they went out and they told others about Him

-- let me ask you a couple of questions: -- "Who is responsible for keeping Christ in Christmas? Who is responsible for telling the world about Jesus and why we are celebrating Christmas in our homes and in our hearts?"
-- since when does the church rely on Lowes and Walmart and Target to share the good news of the birth of Christ? -- in this passage, it is the shepherds who are going out and telling everyone they meet about the birth of the Christ child -- it is the shepherds -- those who have heard and believed in the good news of Christ -- who are going out and telling others about Jesus
-- no where in this passage do we read about the shepherds going on Hannity and Colmes and complaining because the innkeepers wouldn't let Jesus stay in the inn -- no where in this passage do we see the shepherds complaining because the inns aren't telling everyone "Merry Christmas"
-- we have a responsibility, as the body of Christ in this place, to share the good news of Christ with all that we come into contact with
-- 1 Peter 3:15 says, "...in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."

-- for some time now, I have noticed a trend in American Christianity -- maybe it has to do with our pride -- maybe it has to do with our heritage of standing up for our individual rights -- but when corporations or the Government or anyone else tries to remove references to Christianity, we get all up in arms over it
-- we're seeing it now with Christmas -- and the church in America, by and large, is spending all its time and effort to fight Lowes and Walmart and Target trying to get them to say "Merry Christmas" rather than "Happy Holidays"
-- we see it when the ACLU and other groups try to remove nativity scenes from Christmas parades and Christmas displays
-- we saw it with the ten commandments issues that have been a hot topic in our country over the past several years -- Christian groups fighting to keep public displays of the ten commandments in courthouses and in schools and in other buildings
-- you know, I don't think it's a bad thing to stand up for what you believe in -- but, it becomes a bad thing when that is all you become concerned about -- there were many Christians in the ten commandments debate that fought to keep the ten commandments displayed publicly while not keeping them in their heart -- and there's a lot of Christians who are protesting Lowes and Walmart for not saying "Merry Christmas" to customers when they've never even shared their faith with another person
-- 1 Peter 3:15 says that we should be prepared to tell people, with gentleness and respect, the reason why we have hope in our hearts -- maybe we should quit worrying so much about what Lowes and Walmart are or are not doing and worry more about sharing the good news of Christ with others this year

-- this controversy reminds me of the story of the son who went off to college -- his father was very concerned that when his son got under the influence of the liberal college professors that he would lose his faith in God and in God's Word -- so he pleaded with his son, "Son, don't let them take your faith away -- don't let them take the Bible from you -- at the very least, don't let them take the Gospel of John from you"
-- so the son went off to college, and after four years, he returned -- his father greeted him and said, "Son, how is your faith? -- do you still trust in God? -- do you still believe in the Gospel of John?" -- the son looked at him and said, "What are you talking about? There is no such thing as the Gospel of John"
-- so his father ran and got his Bible off the shelf and opened it up -- he looked, but the Book of John wasn't in there -- he looked at the table of contents, and it was listed, but when he turned over to it, it was missing -- He looked up at his son in confusion and said, "What happened to John?" -- the son said, "I cut it out of your Bible on the day I left for college four years ago. What is worse: losing John because your faith was challenged or losing it through neglect?"
-- what is worse -- having Lowes sell "holiday" trees and Walmart say "Happy Holidays" or watching a world of sinners go to hell because we are too concerned with being offended to tell them about the hope of Christ in our heart?

-- we cannot blame others for our own disobedience in sharing the message of Christ at Christmas -- it is our responsibility to go forth, just like the shepherds did so many years ago, and spread the word about Jesus to all we meet
-- it is our mission -- it is our purpose -- it is our calling as a church and as individual Christians
-- Christ told us in Matthew 28:19-20 to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you"
-- at Christmas, one of the songs that we like to sing is, "Go, tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born"
-- we need to use this opportunity -- we need to use this season -- as a time to share Jesus with a watching world -- when the world looks at our churches, they need to see our hope and our peace and our love -- not our protests and our complaints
-- take some time this week to share with someone the good news of Christ -- tell them about the Savior who died on the cross to take their sins away -- tell them about the resurrection of Jesus on the third day -- tell them about the promise of eternal life with Christ -- tell them more than just "Merry Christmas" -- tell them the story of Jesus
-- let us pray