Ah, Christmas Eve. Soon our children will be nestled all snug in their beds, and the rest of us will finally be able to settle in for a long winter’s nap. By this time, I imagine all of you have completed whatever shopping you wanted to do, I imagine all your gifts have been wrapped, and are at this very moment piled up under your Christmas trees. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more than a few imaginations running wild with the thought of what sort of gifts they might be.
The kind of gifts under your tree will be heavily influenced by your Christmas gift giving philosophy. As I see it, there are basically two Christmas gift giving philosophies. There are those who give people what they want and those who give people what they need. What kind of Christmas gift giver would you say you are? If you were to restrict yourself to one of the two Christmas gift giving philosophies, would you say you give gifts based on want or need? Raise your hand if you are the kind of person who gives people what they want. O.K. now raise your hand if you are the kind of person who gives people what they need. Interesting…
If you are unsure of your Christmas gift giving philosophy maybe this will help. In my house, both Christmas gift giving philosophies are represented. One of us (I’ll let you guess which one) gives gifts based on need. This person likes to fill the stockings that have been hung by the chimney with care with things like batteries, boxer shorts, and savings bonds. If you think gifts like this sound sensible and truly believe a set of AAAs are the reason children jump out of bed on Christmas morning, then it is likely you have a need-based Christmas gift giving philosophy. However, if you understand batteries are boring and what really gets people excited on Christmas morning is a $75 pair of flip flops, then it is likely you have a different Christmas gift giving philosophy. If you justify the gifts you give by admitting no one deserves a $75 pair of flip flops and you acknowledge no one in their right mind should expect to own a pair of $75 flip flops but believe that is exactly what makes them such an awesome gift, well then you have a want-based Christmas gift giving philosophy.
The gifts you open on Christmas are heavily influenced by the Christmas gift giving philosophy of the person who gave you the gift. Tonight, we are going to take a closer look at Luke 2:8-12. We will pay particularly close attention to verse 11 because in that verse we discover God’s Christmas gift giving philosophy as an angel of the Lord announces, “11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”
In verse 8 Luke tells us an angel of the Lord makes this announcement to shepherds who were “8… living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.” There has been a great deal of speculation concerning these shepherds and the flock over which they were keeping watch. Most scholars do not believe these are your typical shepherds. You see, Bethlehem is only about 6 miles away from Jerusalem. Daily in Jerusalem sacrifices were being made in the temple. Through these sacrifices God was teaching His people that innocent blood must be shed as payment for sin. The close proximity of these shepherds to the temple in Jerusalem probably meant that the flocks they were keeping watch over had been set aside for temple sacrifice. These Shepherds more than most would appreciate the Christmas gift God was about to give.
The need for a constant supply of sacrificial lambs would explain why the shepherds were in the fields surrounding Bethlehem in the middle of winter. Now, it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. The weather in Bethlehem this time of year is not unlike our own. Today the forecast in Bethlehem calls for a high of 47 degrees, with a 55% chance of rain, and a light 8mph breeze. Combine pleasant weather with a terraced valley full of the green and silver foliage of the olive and the pale pink bloom of the almond and, all and all, the fields surrounding Bethlehem were not a bad place to spend the night.
Typically, the fields surrounding the little town of Bethlehem would be calm and quiet. However, the calm and quiet pasture lands had become increasingly disturbed as travelers from the outlying districts began arriving in their hometowns to register. Luke tells us, “1 Caesar Augustus had issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.” This meant more money for Caesar, but it also meant more work for the shepherds. All day long, day after day, caravans of noisy crowds interrupted the routine and disturbed the peace of both shepherds and sheep as the descendants of David returned to Bethlehem to register. Mary and Joseph were among the caravans of people, though I doubt the shepherds paid much attention to the two them. They would have no way of knowing that the Holy Spirit had come upon her and the power of the Most High had overshadowed her so that the holy one, who very soon now, was to be born from her would be called the Son of God.[1]
There was no reason for the shepherds to pay any attention to Joseph and his extremely pregnant wife Mary until Luke tells us, “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.” The angel told the startled shepherds that God had gotten them a Christmas gift. Actually, he told them that God had gotten them and “all people” a Christmas gift. The angel told the shepherds that God had gotten a Christmas gift for every man, woman, and child from every culture, on every continent, in every century -past, present, and future.
The angel told the shepherds that God had wrapped this Christmas gift in cloths and laid Him in a manger. And then the angel revealed God’s Christmas gift giving philosophy by identifying God’s gift as “Christ, the Lord.” This, by the way, is the only place in all of scripture that our Savior is described as “Christ, the Lord”. In the New Testament our Savior is called Christ nearly 2,000 times and He is called Lord just over 3,000 times, but this is the only time He is called “Christ, the Lord”. It is not clear why that is, but I suspect it has something to do with God’s Christmas gift giving philosophy.
The angel identified God’s Christmas gift as “Christ”. The word Christ is the New Testament translation of the Old Testament word Messiah. The meaning of the word is “one who has been anointed”. Throughout Scripture prophets (who were set aside to speak the Word of God to the people) were anointed, priests (who were set aside as representatives of the people before God) were anointed, and kings (who were set aside to provide for and protect God’s people) were anointed. To be “an anointed one” meant that you had been set aside for a specific purpose. For thousands of years God had promised His people that a Messiah, a Christ would be set aside for the specific purpose of saving them from their sins.
As sinners, we have but one need. We were like people lost at sea whose ship had sunk beneath us and left us helplessly flailing in the deep while sharks circled around us. We did not need a life vest that would help us float higher in the waters. We did not need instruction on how we might better navigate the deep. We did not need guidance to the nearest coastline. We needed a rescuer, a deliverer, a savior. We don’t need more ballads that lifts our eyes to heaven. We don’t need another book about a purpose driven life. We don’t need a collection of bracelets that ask what Jesus would do. We needed a Savior Who pulls us from the sea of sin and delivers us from the jaws of death. More than anything else we sinners needed a Christ Who would save us from sin, so that was the gift that God gave us for Christmas.
The angel identified God’s Christmas gift as “Christ” because God’s gift has met our greatest need. But before we conclude that God is the kind of guy Who would give people batteries for Christmas, we should also note that the angel also identified God’s Christmas gift as “the Lord”. That there, my friends, is a $75 flip flop kind of description if I have ever heard one. Whereas Christ makes us think of a rescuer, Lord makes us think of a provider and protector. History is full of lords and ladies who tried to provide for and protect their people but for various reasons they inevitably failed. However, God had promised His people that He would send a King of kings and a Lord of lords Who would reign above all others and Whose kingdom would never end.
As subjects of this kingdom our wants are satisfied. Our Lord invites us to call upon him in the day of trouble and assures us that he will deliver us. Our Lord wants us to come to Him when we are weary and burdened so that He can give us rest. Our Lord offers to cloth us with more splendor than the flowers of the field and feed us more abundantly than the birds of the air. Our Lord fills us with a peace that transcends all understanding, turns our sorrow into joy, and our morning into celebration. Our Lord defends us from our enemies, guards us in all our ways, and, when the time comes, walks beside us through the valley of the shadow of death. People like you and me don’t deserve these things. People like you and me should never expect to have these things. And yet these and all the other blessings that come from being a subject in the Lord’s kingdom is the Christmas gift that God gives to you.
Somehow God managed to combine the two different Christmas gift giving philosophies into one. At Christmas God gives you something more practical than a box of batteries and more extravagant that $75 flip flops. At Christmas God gives you Jesus. In Jesus God gives you the gift you need and the gift you want. It seems God embraces both Christmas gift giving philosophies. And that is why 2000 years ago outside the little town of Bethlehem an angel of the Lord announced to the shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks at night, “11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” Merry Christmas. Amen.
[1] Luke 1:35