STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. Name some things the world calls/treats “big.”
2. Name some things the world calls/treats “small.”
3. Name some things God calls “small.”
4. Name some things God calls “big.”
5. List some of the reasons the people Pastor Rick talked about this morning “missed” Christmas.
6. Do any of these sound like reasons you might “miss out” on Jesus desire to be in your life on a constant basis? If not, name any reasons that might fit you. How will you change this?
I. He would have been 82 exactly one month ago today, Nov 20. He was Ed “Too tall” Freeman was born in Neely County Mississippi, Nov 20, 1927. He was the sixth of nine children to a hard working class family who endured the Great Depression and did something right in raising those kids.
Ed served in WWII likely on track to make the military a career. He always dreamed of being a pilot. But at 6’4” he was ineligible, acquiring the nickname “Too tall” which stuck. By the time Korea hit he was a Master Sergeant and experienced in combat, showing extraordinary valor at the Battle of Pork Chop hill. He received a battlefield commission making him eligible for pilot training. But the time the height restriction wasn’t changed until 1955.
But in just ten years Ed had become an experienced pilot in planes and helicopters.
It was Nov 14, 1965. He and Major Bruce Crandall had flown a battalion of US Soldiers into Ia Drang and returned to base only to learn this battalion had come under heavy fire and were being slaughtered. Captain Freeman and Major Crandall took off in lightly armored helicopter after others refused to fly into that firestorm and others were actually ordered to stay on the ground. But blaming a malfunctioning radio Freeman claimed he never heard those orders.
Imagine you’re a young GI in a foxhole hearing that backups would not come because they were ordered out of the air. You’re outnumbered 8 – 1 with the enemy fast approaching and your ammo fast depleting. Many of your comrades are wounded or dead.
Then you hear the flap, flap, flap of chopper blades coming, not once, but 14 times until 32 of you are out and the tide of that battle has turned because of the supplies and the hope you brought.
That battle was featured in the film “We Were Soldiers.”
Freeman’s radio BTW was found to be in perfect order.
By the time his story was told and was nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor the time limitations had run out, so he was given the Distinguished Flying Cross.
But in 1995 they removed the time limits and his name was submitted again for the Medal of Honor, the one most receive posthumously because it’s only awarded for extraordinary bravery and sacrifice, the kind most do not survive.
He died a little over a year ago. Nary a word was said on TV of his death or life. (*SOURCES: Wikipedia & Review Open Forum, p A4, 12/11/09)
II. WHAT THE WORLD CALLS BIG, IS OFTEN SO VERY SMALL. And what the world calls/treats as small, God calls big, like Capt Ed Freeman’s life and death.
A. (I Cor 1:26-29).
B. That first Christmas many missed this little baby because to the world His birth seemed small. Some who missed Christmas and Christ were: Herod, the religious leaders, people of Jerusalem, & the innkeeper.
III. The Innkeeper (Lk 2:4-7). In reality the innkeeper may’ve done Mary, Joseph and Jesus a favor. This was not the Marriott. Inns were often noisy, dirty, dangerous and disease-filled places, esp at busy times like this census.
A. I might be talking about something I don’t know about here (a great lead in for a preacher talking about life and death issues, eh? I.e. “But what do I know…???”). But I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest sometimes men and women, husbands and wives, might disagree on the quality and cleanliness of the hotels you are thinking of staying in (ask Joyce about the Rip Van Winkle). She wants something that reminds her of home or a spa. He’ll take whatever the EPA hasn’t condemned/that qualifies as a test site for a nuclear bomb. They walk in the room. Her dirt/bug radar is set on high alert, flipping the sheets back; and he sticks one foot in the door, sees a TV, a mini fridge and says, “Looks good to me.”
B. If Joseph would have been rented a room here he likely would have taken it if the guy said there was a continental breakfast in the morning. I’m thinking Mary might’ve settled for the stable. Sending them to the stable might have spared them from disease or ? But the reality is he didn’t give them a room, BUT he DID do something.
C. The reason he missed seeing Jesus is he was DISTRACTED by the worries of life and the cares of the world (Mt 13:22). Just like us. Schedules and stuff keeps us from seeing Jesus, keeps Jesus from entering our life like He wants to, like He NEEDS to as Savior AND Lord = leader.
IV. HEROD (Mt 2:1-4). The contrast between these wise men and Herod is revealing. The wise men were primed for the signs of a coming king. They had been watching the sky. They were astrologers who believed the gods spoke primarily through the stars.
A. Herod believed God spoke through the OT prophets. That’s what makes his missing Christ inexcusable.
B. The prophets had clearly foretold Messiah’s coming (Mic 5:2). Herod would have or should have, known these prophecies since he had Jewish ancestry. He had access to the prophecies. But by the time he gets around to taking them seriously, Jesus and His family are long gone to Egypt.
C. POWER AND CONTROL ISSUES made Herod miss Christmas. Jesus presented a threat to Herod’s rule because Jesus was called a king. He didn’t want anyone threatening his power and kingship.
D. Just like we don’t want anyone threatening our rule and kingship over our own lives. We want to call the shots and be in control. That’s why many of us miss out on what Jesus wants to do in our lives; the blessings He will give if we make HIM our king and ruler of our lives.
V. The Romans missed Christ and Christmas. They were involved up close to Christ in so many ways. A Roman Caesar set in motion the events that fulfilled the prophecy about Jesus birth in Bethlehem. A Roman appointed, Herod, set in motion the events that led to fulfilling the prophecy about Jesus flight into Egypt. They presided over Jesus’ trial, they handed down His sentence for crucifixion and carried it out, fulfilling many prophecies. But they missed Christ and Christmas in spite of that. Why? They were ignorant of who he really was.
A. There are many in the world today that hear about Christ in carols that are 24/7 from Halloween till Christmas, they hear about him in the news through things churches get involved in. Yet somehow they miss Him, largely due to ignorance and indifference as to who He really is. They are dependent upon you and me, true followers, not to just tell them about Him, but show them who He really is in terms of His love. Will you show them Christ and His love?
VI. The religious leaders of the nation of Israel, huddled in Jerusalem, missed Christ and Christmas. They were experts in the prophecies surrounding their long-awaited Messiah’s coming, like (Mic. 5:2). Surely they’d heard of these wise men from the East visiting and asking about the king who had been born. Mt 2 shows they heard about it and were “disturbed,” but not enough to walk six miles down the road to Bethlehem to see if anything unusual was happening there, any new births?
A. One of the reasons is comfort and complacency. They had everything they needed. They even had all their rules and rituals of the Temple to make them right with God, at least in their own eyes. Why did they need a Savior when they could save themselves through their rules and rituals, Temple attendance, tithes, sacrifices, washings, observing the holy days?
B. This would have been true of all the people in Jerusalem, not just the religious leaders. The only people in all of Jerusalem that did not miss Jesus were Simeon, an old righteous man, Anna, an old prophetess, and the lowly shepherds out in the fields. The reason is the others had no sense of need for Jesus.
C. How many people have no sense of need for Jesus? They have retirement portfolios all set, plenty of insurance, they have a good job, health, family (many still have these even in this economy). Why would they need Jesus. So they miss Him. There’s little sense of need. There’s a lot of comfort in their lives, so a lot of spiritual complacency. They are like the people the prophet of Amos warned about when he said: “Woe to you who are at ease in Zion” (Am 6:1). They are like the people of (Dt 8 & 10) who were so “satisfied” with all the good things they found in the Promised Land and so forgot their need for God.
1. Are you at ease in Zion? What could heighten your sense of need for Jesus? Whatever does is a good thing.
2. Capt Ed Freeman died a little over a year ago. Nary a word was said on TV of his death or life. Yet how often have you heard of Tiger’s “indiscretions,” lost endorsements, or NFL Randy Moss’ dropped passes, and Taylor Swift’s run in with Kanye West? [BIG IDEA HERE]
3. Are you in danger of missing Christmas this year BECAUSE of Big Idea?
4. Are you in danger of missing Christ, what He wants to do in your life, who He wants to be, who He NEEDS to be in your life? For any of these same reasons I gave today? If not these, is there anything that’s keeping Jesus from doing what He wants to do IN you, WITH you, FOR you? Maybe you have no clue what that is, but you know things are not all they should be between you and Him. Come.
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