Christmas at The Chapel: God With Us

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Let’s read the original Christmas story from Luke’s Gospel, chapter two. I invite you to receive God’s word… 

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 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 that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, 
    and on earth peace, good will toward men.” This is the Word of the Lord. 

After the angel announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, it says a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest.” The news of Jesus’ birth was so amazing, even angels couldn’t hold themselves back from worshiping. After hearing the announcement, the shepherds hurried off and found the newborn Jesus, and when they found him, they worshiped him. Some time later, Magi from the east made the long journey to see Jesus, and when they arrived, it says “they bowed down and worshiped him.” Do you see a pattern here? It seems like every time people came into the presence of the newborn Jesus, they were overcome with the urge to worship. In the presence of Jesus, that was the only thing that made sense! 

So everybody knows Christmas is a time for family and gifts and celebrating. And I hope you do all those things. But here’s what I want to say tonight: this Christmas will truly be special if you make it a time to worship. 

And I know what some of you are thinking: “I’m not into worship; I’m just not a religious person.” Let me respectfully challenge that.  

Here at The Chapel we did a teaching series on worship this past year, and I shared this with the Chapel family. There was famous graduation speech a few years ago. It was at a little college in Ohio called Kenyon College. Secular college. The speaker’s name was David Foster Wallace—he was an author and university professor—not a Christian man, but a very intelligent man. The name of the speech was “This is Water.” And it went viral—you can watch it on YouTube. But I want read a little excerpt.  

…here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship…is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly… 

Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful, it's that they're unconscious. They are default settings.  

He's right. We all worship. We don’t even know we’re doing it! But we are all hungry for something to worship, and we look for it in all kinds of places. 

Our English word “worship” comes from the Old English, and it literally means “worth-ship.” In other words, when we worship something, we’re showing that we think that thing has a lot of worth. It’s worthy of our praise.  

One more thing about worship and praise: C.S. Lewis, the great British author, points out that when we praise something, we naturally want to invite other people to join us. Isn’t it frustrating to find a new series on Netflix, and not have anyone to tell about it? Isn’t it frustrating to be driving along and see an incredible view, but no one in the car wants to look up from their cell phone to see it? It’s like the experience isn’t complete until you share it with someone else.  

I was at a Giants game recently, and the Giants made a great play—which doesn’t happen that often. So everybody in the stands was cheering, and it wasn’t just individual fans cheering their team; it was a community thing. I was high-fiving my friends who came with me, and—you sports fans will understand this—I even turned around to a complete stranger, and high-fived him. We had a little bonding moment. But seriously, that’s a very human thing. Because when we’re impressed with something, something in us needs to express it and to share it. And here’s the thing: the more amazing the object of our appreciation, the more we’re just bursting to let it out and to join with others in praising it!  

So here’s my point: Christmas is the time when we realize again that there is nothing more amazing in the universe than the arrival of Jesus into this world. Not just the miracle of God taking on human flesh—as crazy as that is—but everything that came after that: the way he lived; the way he loved; the way he died; the way he conquered death. Jesus may have been born in an obscure town to a poor family, but he would go on to influence the world more than anyone else in history. Honestly, I don’t know how much of that the shepherds or the magi or even the angels realized. But they knew enough. The realized they were in the presence of deity and majesty and humanity, all wrapped up in one, and the only thing that made sense was to fall on their knees and worship. 

So this Christmas, would you make it a point to worship? When you’re singing Christmas carols, don’t just sing them outward; direct them upward. As we close tonight’s service with candlelight, don’t just enjoy the tradition; raise your candle in worship to the King of Kings. When you’re giving thanks for the Christmas feast or the gift-giving you’re about to do, use that prayer as an opportunity to worship the living Christ, and invite others to join you in that worship.  

You know, there’s so much we don’t get to choose at Christmas. We don’t get to choose the weather that day (I’ll take 30 degrees and a light snowfall—we don’t get to do that. It might be 65 and pouring rain). We don’t get to choose our family members. We’re kind of stuck with them, right? We don’t get to choose if we’re healthy or sick—sometimes that just happens. There’s so much out of our control. But there’s something we have complete control over: we can choose to worship. It’s how wise people have responded to Jesus ever since the night he showed up. When we choose worship, it’s good for our souls…it blesses the people around us…it puts everything else in perspective.  

The night Jesus was born, the sky exploded in worship…as angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest!” This Christmas, let’s not miss the opportunity to join them. 

Host Team—come on up with your candles… 

[Dave light candle.]  

Dave: Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." I don’t have to tell anyone here that there’s a lot of darkness in this world. It’s pretty obvious! But when we carry the light of Christ, it’s more powerful than the darkness. It overcomes the darkness. Saint Francis of Assisi said, “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle” So let’s spread that light around this room. 

Dave light candles of ushers  

Musicians lead “ “Silent Night,” “O Holy Night” 

Dave: What a beautiful sound in this room. Don’t forget this moment. Take it in; treasure it. And before you leave, let me remind you of one more thing Jesus said. Jesus said to his followers: [14] "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. [15] Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. [16] In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  

As we go out from this place, let’s carry the light of Christ into our homes, and our neighborhoods, and everywhere else we go.  

Thank you for the privilege of spending Christmas Eve with you! And at this time, please carefully extinguish your candles.  

God Bless you, and have a Merry Christmas. Good night!