Quote from Forum Archives on December 9, 2003, 1:13 pm

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

THE AMAZING EMMANUEL #2/5
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
December 7, 2003

Text: Luke 2:8-20

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! That used to be the standard newspaper
sales pitch. Or at least, what we remember seeing in the movies. Whenever
there was a breaking story, a special edition would be published, and the
newsies - the boys who sold the papers - would pick up their bundles, get
to their street corners, and begin their sales calls. Extra! Extra! Read
all about it!

Newspapers aren’t sold that way anymore, and breaking news stories have
other ways of getting out. Radio and television have been alternate
sources for years. Now computers on the internet provide an even faster
means of getting news out. A reporter finishing a story can have it sent
to millions of homes around the world with a push of a button or two.
That’s even faster than Superman.

Last Sunday, I began talking about Jesus as our hero: the amazing
Emmanuel. Jesus is worthy to be our hero and worthy of all the
hero-worship we can lavish upon him. Last Sunday, I mentioned how some
superheroes have sidekicks and addressed how John the Baptist fit the
role as Jesus’ sidekick because he recognized his role alongside Jesus’
power.

This morning, I am speaking about another aspect that heroes and
superheroes share: publicity. When those who we consider important do
something, we hear about it. Everybody knew about the careers of the
Beatles and of Elvis. There were reporters assigned exclusively to them.
We may never know if someone living a few doors down from us is arrested,
but many around the world knew when a warrant was issued for Michael
Jackson. I’m not implying that these people or groups should be our
heroes; I am simply illustrating that when something happens in the life
of someone considered “important,” word gets out. Extra! Extra! Read all
about it!

Two thousand or so years ago, there were no computers, television, or
radio. No Oprah or Dr. Phil. There weren’t even any printed newspapers
around when the true hero for all time came. But the story of the birth
of our hero still managed to circulate. Listen to this familiar part of
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. I bring you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has
been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You
will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly a
great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God
and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on
whom his favor rests.’ 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.’ So they
hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the
manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had
been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what
the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and
pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and
praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just
as they had been told.” (Luke 2:8-20)

The shepherds were the newsies. They spread the story about what they had
seen and heard. It wasn’t the “Bethlehem Bulletin” or the “Jerusalem
Tribune.” It wasn’t even a herald from the courtyard of the king. The
most wonderful story - the story about the Amazing Emmanuel - is
delivered by angels and spread by shepherds. Extra! Extra! Read all about
it!

The shepherds teach us some lessons here. One lesson is that we do not
have to reach some prestigious social or intellectual level for God to
speak to us. I’m not putting down shepherds - those written about in look
or any others. But the fact remains that they represent a class not very
high on the social totem pole. Many others frequently looked down upon
them: merchants, skilled craftsmen, soldiers, politicians, royalty.
Shepherds were - well… shepherds. But it was to this group, out of all
the types of people in the area, to whom the angels of God made
themselves known. And it was this group of men who were the first to
worship the baby Jesus. That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?

Another lesson the shepherds teach us, and it is the lesson I want to
focus on, is that after coming into the presence of the Amazing Emmanuel,
they shared the story. There are two simple observations here: one, God’s
messengers bring good news, and, two, people who receive the good news
share the good news.

God’s messengers bring good news. The Kokomo Tribune and the Peru
Tribune, like many newspapers, don’t always bring good news. Our papers
are filled with bad news: crime, war, disease, flu, scandal, hazardous
weather. Think of any failure of the human race, and we can find it in a
paper.

We must remember this second Sunday of Advent that God’s newsies bring
good news! The angel said, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of
great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a
Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” The words “angel”
and “good news” both have the same Greek root word - message. Angels are
God’s messengers, and they deliver God’s great message, which we call the
Gospel. You‘ve heard this many times - it literally means good message!
And what is this good news? That the Savior has come.

Why is a baby, wrapped in whatever cloths were available, lying in a
feeding trough in a stable, such good news? Turn to Matthew 1:20-21, and
let’s review what the angel told Joseph. “…an angel of the Lord appeared
to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to
take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the
Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the
name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’”

Did you catch the good news? Jesus came to save his people from their
sins! Superman might be able to rescue you from a flaming comet. Batman
will stop that car-jacker with his bat-arang! Spider-Man will spin his
web to trap the bad guys. These are the make-believe superheroes who do
things that we wish could be done to save people. But Jesus, the
real-life hero for all time, rescues us from sin! When God’s messengers
shout, “Extra! Extra!,“ they add, “Read all about the good news!”

Then the shepherds teach us that people who receive the good news share
the good news. “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning
what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were
amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” Those shepherds probably told
about this event for a long time. After all, we wouldn’t even know about
this Wonder Child if people had not shared their stories with people who
told people who told people who told you and me. Have you heard God’s
wonderful Good News? Have you heard that Jesus is the Savior, come to
rescue people from the power, penalty, and pain of sin? If you have heard
the Good News, have you accepted God’s precious gift? If so, hallelujah!
If not, I’d love to talk with you about it.

Here’s another question: have you shared the good news with someone who
needs to hear it? Remember the shepherds - people who receive the good
news share the good news!

In Seven Steps to Transform Your Church, Bill Hull makes this simple
observation, “The world has stopped coming to church. There are no
commands for the unbeliever to attend church. There are, however, many
commands for the believer to go into the world and to live out his faith
among the unbelieving population.” (Bill Hull, Seven Steps to Transform
Your Church, Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1993, p. 128)

Jesus was born in a stable, not in a temple. One of the main things
followers of Jesus do is share his story. If Superman, Batman, or
Spider-Man rescued you, you’d tell everyone, wouldn’t you? Jesus has
rescued you! He has rescued me! It’s time for followers of Jesus to share
his story. We can be “angels” - messengers - to someone between now and
the end of the year.

All right. We know Jesus is the Amazing Emmanuel. We know that if we want
to follow this hero, we need to share his story. So how do we do that?
Since I have been referring to news reporting some this morning, here are
some suggestions from the world of journalism. Newspaper reporters learn
to answer five questions: Who? Where? What? When? Why? These are five
questions we should answer, too.

Who? With whom can you share the good news? Think of and write down a
couple of names of people you know who need to hear God’s wonderful
message. Where? Where will you share the good news? Will you see this
person at the office, at school, at the gym, in your home? Plan on the
place where you will share the good news.

What? What will you share? Well, the good news is about Jesus who came to
save people from their sins. You can start by talking about Christmas. In
a devotional I read earlier this week, author David Mains tells of being
invited by a friend to hear about a “business opportunity.“ It was a
network marketing business where people who use and sell the product
recruit others to use and sell the product. What caught David’s attention
were the three or four people who gave testimonies. They were excited,
and they were prepared to give a concise, meaningful message. He decided
to think of a concise Christmas message he could share. In his
devotional, he writes, “I love Christmas. It's the one time of year just
about everyone works at being more gracious and neighborly and
considerate and loving of others. Someone always comments, ‘Wouldn't it
be great if folks could be like this all year long?’ My response is,
‘They can be. The truth is, one reason God sent his son to earth was to
show us how we could be more like Jesus… who was generous and neighborly
and considerate and loving of others all his life. I actually believe
he's changing me and enabling me, believe it or not, to live this way
more and more. Not that I'm so special. But I know he's put his love in
my heart for others to the degree that for me it's been an amazing
change. I'm actually learning in my own small way, to live like Jesus
did. So yes, I love Christmas, but more than that, I'm learning more
about loving the Christ of Christmas. And for me, that's made all the
difference in the world.’” (David Mains, The Amazing Emmanuel: Following
the True Hero for All Time, Pastor’s Manual, Wheaton, IL: Mainstay Church
Resources, 2003, p. B48)

When? When will you do this? How about some time between now and the end
of this year? Imagine what would happen if people were sharing his story
this Christmas season. You can invite others to church this month. Our
special services might be a place to start. We have a video tonight, a
cantata next Sunday evening, Christmas caroling the next, and a
candlelight service on December 24th. I don’t think there’s a better time
to have people come and hear about God’s precious gift than during the
Christmas season. The last question: why? Because people who have
received the good news share the good news. Jesus said his followers
would tell his story. Jesus has earned the right for his story to be told
and heard.

The late TV journalist Harry Reasoner shared a wonderful Christmas
commentary heard by millions in 1971. He said that Christmas “is either
all falsehood, or it is the truest thing in the world. . . . It is such a
dramatic shot toward the heart that, if it is not true, for Christians
nothing is true. So even if you have not got your shopping all done and
you are swamped with the commercialism and the frenzy, be at peace... The
story stands.”

Indeed, the story stands. The story told by Zechariah, the father of John
the Baptist, stands. The story told by Mary stands. The story told by
John the Baptist stands. The story told by the angels stands. The story
told by the shepherds stands. Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Hear all
about it! Tell all about it!

(Adapted from The Amazing Emmanuel: Following the True Hero for All Time,
Pastor’s Manual, Wheaton, IL: Mainstay Church Resources, 2003, pp.
B61-B63)

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!