Christmas Eve at Awakening 2024

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Merry Christmas! Hey, that was great.

I'm so glad you joined us this Christmas Eve.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year, unless you still have some shopping left to do.

Anyone still have shopping?

No.

Okay, you're you're good.

Or maybe you're still tracking a package that was supposed to arrive two days ago.

Um I yeah, yeah.

I have become an incredible uh tracking stalker recently on my phone checking packages.

Uh, how many of you are excited for Christmas?

Alright, kids, tell me, are you excited for Christmas?

Yeah! That was decent.

That was good.

Now, how many of us are ready for Christmas?

Can you believe that it's already Christmas Eve?

I mean, we blinked, and here we are.

Uh, the other day, my wife and I were at the beach with our dog Finley, and we named her Finley because finally mom let us get a dog.

Um, and Finley is the happiest beach dog.

She loves chasing birds with a kind of blissful joy that makes you just want to like get out your phone and film her and set it to a slow-motion music track.

I mean, it's unbelievable.

And so she is chasing birds with joy in her heart, and she's coming up to what I think she thinks is a shallow pool uh filled with birds.

She leaps as if she's gonna dive into this, you know, oasis of birds.

Um, and it wasn't so shallow.

She disappears completely, goes all the way under, and then a few moments later comes up, flailing, gasping, doggy paddling as fast as you can.

Jenny and I are laughing.

We probably should have been more concerned.

I was more worried that I was gonna have to jump in after her and get wet uh there.

But I think finally, that picture actually perfectly describes how many of us are coming into this Christmas season.

It started out full of joy and excitement, and then suddenly we're just in over our heads.

I mean, the speed of the season, right?

The amount of parties and gatherings and presents and wrapping and the list of to-dos that never gets finally done.

And then all the emotions that come with this season and family and the stressors and the things and questions that come up.

We can just find ourselves just gasping for air, wondering how we got here.

And so tonight, what we want to do is something a little different.

We want to pause in the midst of the rush.

We want to stop and see, to behold, to take time and really look at the beauty, the meaning, and the miracle of Christmas.

You know, behold is a word that we don't use very often, is it?

And yet it is one of the most beautiful invitations in Scripture to behold, to look at, to see, not to just glance at, not to just skim over, but to really look at.

It means to gaze at, to wonder, to look at something or someone long enough to understand something of the significance of that person or thing.

And behold is an invitation that's at the very center of Christmas.

And so here's what I want you to do.

I want you to just sit back, if you wouldn't mind.

Go ahead, relax, you can do it.

Yeah.

Take a deep breath.

Isn't that better already?

Set aside, if you can, the to-do lists that are running through your mind.

Be present in this moment.

And would you listen afresh to the Christmas story?

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.

Behold, don't be afraid.

Behold, 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'll find a baby wrapped in claws and lying in a manger.

You know, the story of Jesus' birth gets wrapped up with all of our Christmas tradition, and it can easily just become white noise in the backdrop, can't it?

And yet the invitation of the angel was to behold, to look, to look at this baby born whom angels announced and shepherds visited, and ask simply this question, as a song we often sing at Christmas time, ask, What child is this?

I mean, think about it.

What child is this whose life divided history?

Would you do this for me real quick?

Would you go ahead and say to your neighbor the year you're born?

And don't lie, please.

Okay, you're in church.

I was born January 22nd, 1981.

I'm gonna be turning 44, and everyone knows my birthday, so there you go.

Most of us don't realize is that our birth date is actually in reference to Jesus' birth date.

We live in the year 2024 AD or ano dominite.

That's what it stands for, the year of our Lord.

The guy that did the math to account for Jesus' birth was a little off.

Actually, Jesus was born about six years before it, but still, every time we write the date 2024 or miswrite the date 2024 and 2025 for the next month, um, we're actually connecting it back to the very birth of Jesus.

Think about that.

A baby born in poverty in this obscure part of the Roman Empire has become the very hinge of history.

Not a king, not a general, not someone powerful or prominent.

In fact, H.

G.

Wells, a historian and novelist, said this: I am a historian.

I'm not a believer.

But I must confess, as a historian, that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history.

I mean, if we have any intellectual integrity, we have to stop and ask, what child is this whose life divided history and whose teaching directed humanity?

Jesus is widely considered the greatest teacher who ever lived.

Gandhi recognized Jesus, his life and his teaching that fundamentally shaped his philosophy.

He said that the Sermon on the Mount was the greatest ethical and moral literature ever written.

Ideas like this turned the other cheek.

Go the extra mile.

Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.

In fact, the teachings of Jesus on love, on justice, on the human dignity and equality are the very foundation for the values we hold dear to this day.

And Jesus' life.

He took special care and attention for the poor, the oppressed, the ostracized, the mistreated, the underrepresented.

I mean, Jesus touched the untouchables and he ate with social outcasts, redefining what it meant to love our neighbor.

It's widely agreed by historians that every major movement of compassion, of justice, and human dignity and history can be traced back to the very life and teachings of Jesus.

What child is this?

Come on.

Whose life divided history, whose teachings directed humanity, and then whose death defied reality.

You know, we gather two thousand years later, not because of a birth, but because he died and, well, didn't stay dead.

At the very center of Christianity, all of Christianity hinges upon the historical death and resurrection of Jesus.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, in fact, the Apostle Paul in the Bible would write this our faith is futile, it's worthless, it's nothing.

This is just meaningless what we're doing if Jesus didn't rise from the dead.

Now think about this.

If someone predicted their death and resurrection and then did it, wouldn't you give consideration to what they had to say?

And wouldn't you ask, who is this?

What child is this?

In the ancient world, gods did not die for humans.

No, they demanded humans die for them.

And Jesus flipped the script.

He was born to die, to take on the greatest enemy of humanity, death itself.

And in the resurrection, he rewrote the story for humanity.

And we can't quite grasp the significance of this.

The cross, I have one right here.

The cross was the recognized symbol of brutality in Rome's dominance and power today.

It represents sacrificial love and eternal hope.

I mean, what child is this?

What child?

Whose life divided history, whose teachings directed humanity, and his death defied reality?

Let me ask you.

What if it's not just a nice tradition?

What if it's true?

What if the angels were right that this child wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger, really was the savior of the world, the rescuer that our hearts desperately need?

What if he is the Messiah, the king we long for?

What if he is Emmanuel?

God with us.

And if he really is Emmanuel, think about this.

This is incredible.

If he really is Emmanuel, what does this child tell us about God?

Well, it tells us first that God is personal.

God isn't a distant deity, an impersonal force.

He's not sitting back, got the world started.

He's not, you know, good vibes or the universe.

Jesus came in person to have a personal relationship with you.

God doesn't just love humanity generally.

He loves you specifically.

He knows your name.

He knows your story.

He knows your pain.

And he's entered into that.

Jesus never came to start a religion, but he did come to start a relationship with the God of the universe.

And it's not just personal, but God is also approachable.

Think about who heard the first announcement of the birth.

It wasn't kings in a palace, and it was not priests in the temple.

It wasn't powerful or perfect people.

It was shepherds in a field.

Shepherds, by the way, were a rough and rowdy crew.

They had a dirty job and a fairly messy reputation.

And the angels declared to the shepherds what?

This is good news for all people.

Not some people, not certain people, not perfect people.

Every single person on the planet.

I think that's a little bit of where we get stuck sometimes.

Because if there is a God, well, he probably doesn't want anything to do with me.

I'm a screw up, I'm a mess up.

You don't even know what I did last week or last year.

Maybe this year hasn't turned out the way you'd hope.

Maybe you're on a path you didn't want to go down.

You know, like I could never come to this God.

And Christmas reminds us that God is personal, that God is approachable, that you can come.

You're invited to come to Him, and then it's better than that.

He came for you.

That God is present in the mess.

He was not content to stay distance from you.

But he came in the most vulnerable way as a baby.

In a manger.

By the way, mangers are dirty and messy.

They're ordinary.

It's a feeding trough for animals.

If I was going to write the story for the king of the universe, this is not how I'd write it, if him entering into humanity.

And yet that's how he did it.

Why?

Speaks of this profound truth.

We have a God that doesn't avoid the low places, he inhabits them.

God is approachable.

God is present in our mess.

In our day and time, we're so focused on status, on power, on looking picture perfect.

And you look really good today, by the way.

You did real, real nice.

And so we polish ourselves up and present something to the world and hide the messiness inside because we're afraid if you really saw me, you would reject me.

Christmas tells us that God, who sees you already as you are, knows everything about you.

He's not repulsed by the mess.

He moves towards you in the middle of it.

He's moved by love for you in whatever you're going through.

And so the question, the question is, you know, what are we to do with this child?

The shepherds were not content just to hear the news.

They went and saw.

They said, let's go and see.

I mean, they could have just, you know, heard it and gone about their day, right?

They're in the middle of their work day.

It's a normal, ordinary night shift for them.

But they got an announcement, they got a revelation, they got new information.

That's the question.

What do you do when you get new information?

Shepherds could have just sit back, go in one ear, out the other, dismissed it, gone on with their day.

But instead they responded.

They got up, they went and saw, and it changed their life.

It can change your life.

So what about you?

How will you respond to this child?

I mean, I can tell you what we kind of often do as we come to moments like these, they're nice, and maybe give us some warm fuzzies, let it wash over you, and just go on about life as normal.

Or like the shepherds, you can stop and you can behold, and then you can respond.

Maybe for some your response is simply this to slow down long enough to really see and take in the wonder of Jesus.

To allow him to captivate your heart afresh this Christmas season.

For others, maybe your response is actually to stop hiding from God, but allow him to enter into the messiness of your life.

To all those places that you're like, I'm not so sure, I'm just trying to.

In fact, I feel a little bit icky coming in.

Well, thank God it's a school, not a real church.

We're a real church though, in a school.

Anyways, that's a whole nother story.

Because I just don't know what how God will respond.

And He's the God who enters into your messiness, whatever you're walking through, and meets you there, responds with love, and wants to lead you and help you and rescue you.

And for some, yeah, it's just saying yes to the invitation.

The invitation of Jesus who longs to have a personal relationship with you.

The God of the universe.

You can have a personal relationship with the God of the universe through Jesus and experience purpose and life and peace and hope.

And so I would you can take a moment with me to stop to behold and respond.

And if you're wanting to start a relationship with Jesus, would you just pray after me?

Just simple prayer, and prayer is just a conversation with God.

Jesus, today, I behold you.

I believe that you came for me.

You lived for me, you died for me, and you defeated death and rose again to give me life.

Would you come into my life, be my rescuer?

Would you be my leader?

Would you forgive me of all the junk and bring new life?

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

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