Cornerstone PLUS

Now, I'm gonna gonna get I'll give a little talk now, from the Bible because, at Christmas, it's brilliant to remind ourselves of of of what why we're here. So there was a, a, a bishop of hippo called Saint Gustin. He was a fourth century theologian and philosopher, and he had to brain the size of a planet. And he said the Bible is shallow enough for a trot child, not to drown, yet deep enough for an elephant to to swim in. I'm not sure if that elephant could swim in it, but But tonight, we have already enjoyed a splash around, and now I want to wade out a little bit and and do a few links.

So kids get your arm bands on and, if you if you do, if that doesn't work, do what my youngest does and climb on your dad's back. If if you're a cornerstone regular, or or a visitor, you may you you may think you know the Christmas story. But I'm constantly amazed how little I I know myself. But, you know, you might know the details. You've we've all been to nativity's, but Do you know what it really means?

What when was the last time you actually sat down and read the nativity story for yourself? It's 51 verses long, 18 from Matthew and 33 from Luke's gospel. It's amazing when you think about the impact these stories have had. I mean, imagine if imagine if you had to pay royalties to god for every time you used his material. There were, I mean, the list of primary schools would be incredible, wouldn't it?

So before we go any further, I just wanna lay down the challenge for you. I wanna I wanna say, don't let this Christmas go by without taking some time to read those 51 verses for yourselves. I did that this week in preparation for this talk and and I was struck again by the truth of August in statement. We don't have a lot of time, but but I I would have done my job. I I reckon if if you go home and sometime over the next couple of weeks, You you open a Bible and turn to Matthew and Luke and read them and think about them for yourselves.

But the book we read from earlier is called a very noisy Christmas. A very noisy Christmas and and it's a good title because when you read those nativity stories, when you read the gospels, there does seem to be a lot happening. There's there's a lot of action on earth and in heaven. There's a big cosmic racket going on, but what's all the noise about? Well, I've got 1 simple point and I'll probably have sub points off this, but my big point is everyone Everyone in the world, everyone is called to witness the birth of the Savior.

Everyone is called to witness the birth of the Savior. The Shepard They get an angel. There they are. If I had sheep like that, I think I would be sleeping as well. The shepherds get a visit from an angelic being.

The wise men get a star. How loud is that? I mean, I know you apparently you can't hear in space, but it must be very, very noisy. Luke chapter 2 verse 9 says this, an angel of the lord appeared to them and the glory of the lord shone around them. And they were terrified.

This is speaking of the the of the shepherds. And in verse 13, it says suddenly a great company of heavenly hosts appeared. With the angel praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom's his favorite rests. And notice the wise men. They get a star.

Matthew chapter 2 says where is the 1 who has been born king of the Jews? This is when they go to see herod. We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. Can you see when you think about these these 2 scenes? They were very, very noisy.

For the shepherds, there was no need to study. It it wasn't because they weren't intelligent, but it was just a pure display of power and glory that the shepherds experienced from the from these angels and they would have been familiar with the with the visitations that their people had had over the over the the many years, of their history. They would have been familiar with with angelic beings. They've heard the stories of the of the ancients, but that didn't stop them from being terrified, did it? The angel, the the shepherds were were quaking in their boots.

And and let me point out for a second. Shepherding was a very, very dangerous business. These these boys would have would have been seasoned pros at keeping wild animals away from their flocks. So it must have been an awesome sight that left them quaking in their boots for fear of their lives. And think about the wise men.

The wise men on the other hand appears to have they've been very studious. They've put their books out and they've seen a sign of such importance in the heavens that they are literally moved to find the newborn king and open their treasures to him and worship him. And As our resident Christmas journey wise men was saying all last week, these were the gifts they gave him gold fit for a king. The king who was rich and yet became poor. They gave him frankincense because he was more than just a king.

He was the eternal son of god. Through whom the world was made. He was the big who became small and they brought him myrrh as well. Because this son who was given as we read earlier on in Isaiah prophet, he was the mighty god The strong became weak as he laid down his life as a sacrifice so that as his name foretold he could save his people from their sins. So just just think about these 2 groups with me for a few minutes.

Consider these 2 groups. We have 1 group who are rich and our nobles and our foreign and our exotic. And it seems they're the total opposite to shepherds. And then the shepherds are locals from Judea. They worked hard they worked hard at their labor.

They they were still probably quite poor and and we're not very exciting to that outside world. And yet god arranges for both these groups of people to come and witness the birth of the savior. You see, everyone is called to witness the birth of the savior. Everyone is called to witness the birth of this savior. Think about this for me.

The World Cup, when the World Cup comes around, all of the club football teams I can't see the kids down here, so I'm really sorry about this. This thing's right in the way. The club football teams, they put away their petty differences Right? Right, Steve? Yeah, everton.

He's got an everton Christmas jumper on by the way. They they put aside their petty differences and they come together. To to witness the spectacle of England getting beaten. And you know, like you've you've got rich Chelsea and humble fulham. Like they, you know, they they they they become like brothers, don't they?

You know? But with this nativity, with this the birth of Jesus, it's more than just a spectacle that that everyone is called a witness. The good news is that it is is that it brings great joy to all people and the and this good news or or gospel demands a response and that's what we see these people doing. And so the the writers of these gospels who by the way, they're not just writing children's stories. They're right they're they're investigating things that they have heard happened.

They they've interviewed eyewitnesses by the way, if you if you're interested in knowing a little bit about that further, as a church we're going through the gospel of Luke at the moment and we've just finished the the the Christmas story. So you can you can find them on the website. It would be it'd be a great a greater compliment to to you reading through these these stories. But the the gospel writers make 2 staggering claims. The first claim is this.

It doesn't matter who you are, you need a savior. And the second claim is it doesn't matter who you are a savior has come for you. Those songs we were just singing were littered with this language, weren't they? Another way of saying this is we need a savior and we can have a savior. And and when you read the gospels, that's what you see in Jesus.

You know, you you see him coming to people and challenging them. That they that they shouldn't stay the same as they they are. They should leave their life of rejection of god and follow him. And he's you see him accepting everyone, even the outcasts. So another way of saying this is you are more sinful than you know but more loved than you can imagine.

If you read the gospels, those are that's what you're here, that's what you'll see. But let's think about claim number 1. It doesn't matter who you are, you need a savior. This this claim, it will it will grate on you if you think you're okay. Or if you think you can save yourself.

If that is you, if this does make you uncomfortable, notice the the humility of the wise men, the humble wise men. Matthew Matthew 2, 11 says, on coming to the house, They saw the child with his mother Mary and they bowed down and worshiped him. These were men of great learning of great riches, of great knowledge, and they come and they worship this baby. Here are the wise ones who might have been tempted to believe that we can fix the world if we just throw enough money at it. Or if we could just get some real brain boxes together, we can figure things out.

But yet they're humble and they come and they they acknowledge and bow before this savior and king. So you see it doesn't matter who you are. We all need a savior. And and the second claim, it's it says it doesn't matter who you are a savior has come for you. I think we see that in in the shepherds.

And now this claim might be hard for you to hear or or accept if you've ever been rejected. If you've maybe you're you're a slave you're a slave to rejecting yourself and thinking that no 1 would ever accept you. Maybe you're someone who is in the first category who who thinks they don't need saving and you you look down on people that think they do but if that is you notice how wise the humble shepherds are. Look at these 2 verses. Let's go to Bethlehem.

It says in in luke 2 15. It says, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the lord has told us about. The shepherds know who just spoke to them, don't they? They they don't say what they should have said is let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing has happened which the angel has told us about, but they know this is this is not the angel is just a messenger. They say let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the lord has told us about.

And then they hurry off and they find Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. And when they see him, they they spread the word concerning what they had they had been told about this child. They go and they find him. They they investigate the claims that this this angel has just told them. They use their reason.

If this if this if this is you, if this if you want to test some of the claims of Christianity after Christmas, we have, something called the tales of the unexpected, which is a 4 week, course it's a it's a 4 week gathering here at the hub and you can come along and I told you it was gonna be noisy. You can come along and investigate some of the stories that that Jesus told, you can you'll get a fly on your way out, and you can pick that up. But the the the the shepherds, they investigate the things they've been told and it's all true. It's just as they've been told, then they are filled with boldness and confidence that comes when you know you're safe and secure. So even though this is only the baby messiah they've come to see, The shepherds don't care about what people will say.

They're gonna go and spread the news. They're gonna go spread the word about him. So let me ask you as we close, where do you line up on these 2 claims? Do you have the humility of the wise men and the wisdom of the shepherds? Listen.

We're gonna we're gonna be done in a minute. But did you guys know, did you kids know that tonight before you stands an angel? You know that? Do you know that kids? I am an angel.

Behold the glory. Alright? Look, You know, I might not have the glory of those original angels. I might not have the shiny lights from heaven but all an angel is is a messenger. Yeah?

It's it's just a messenger. And I wanna ask you, are you gonna hear the message that the lord has spoken to you through his messenger. Are you going to go away in investigate that you're gonna go and ponder as Mary did. Will you bow and continue to bow? I'm speaking to a room, you know, there there are lots of different people here.

There are, you know, people that have been going to church for years and years. Don't think that you're you escaped this. This is this is the job of a Christian. Yeah. This this is we we need to bury our faces in the bible and and continually remind ourselves of the gospel, how we're, how we're forgiven by Jesus.

And that's what transforms us. And maybe you're maybe you're not a Christian here tonight. And some of these words have challenged you to to look into it a bit more a bit more deeply. It's not just a kid's story. It's an amazing, deep story that will give meaning and purpose to your life will it will it will change your life as it's changed mine.

Now Boys and girls, I want to say you've done an absolutely fantastic job. I really hope you will have a a very noisy and fun Christmas and, I wanna thank you again for coming tonight. Thank you all for coming. We're gonna, we're gonna, I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna we're gonna hear a special song from our band. They're gonna play a solo for us.

So let's bow our heads and and pray. Lord god, we thank you so much for everybody here tonight. We thank you for the the the children that that that are in this room that have been scurrying around and and having fun on this on this straw. And we'll all be thank you for all of the adults as well that that that are in this room and we pray lord that you would show yourself to us. You would you would help us to hear something of the good news of Jesus help us lord not to just think about this story as a, a cute, acute kids story, but to actually find the meaning of life.

In these words that we can we can know and be loved by a god who created us. Who sent his son to die for our sins. And and lord, please would you would you would you would you give us a rich and, and fulfilled Christmas because we're digging deeper into knowing who you are. And we asked all these things in Jesus' name. Men.