Text: Luke 2:8–20; Luke 11:33–35
Topic: Experiencing the wonder of Christmas

• In Luke 11:33–35, Jesus says that because our eyes are the light of our bodies, living in "wide-eyed wonder" will fill us with light (The Message).
  • Illustration: Albert Einstein remarked, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as if nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is."
• Few people would admit to experiencing a miracle.
• Everyone experiences miracles; breathing itself is a miracle.
  • Illustration: Batterson explains the process by which oxygen enters the body and is processed through its cells.
• Acts 17:25 says that God "gives all men life and breath."
• Because every breath is a miracle, we experience roughly 23,000 miracles every day.
• We can live as if nothing is a miracle or as if everything is.
  • Illustration: Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common."

• Let's look at the Christmas story from the perspective of the angels.
• God uses angels to communicate special news; they have made many important announcements throughout history.
• Because the proclamation of the birth of Jesus was their most important announcement, they were probably very particular about doing it right.
• In their brainstorming session, they may have decided to make their announcement to the most important people in the most extravagant way.
• God makes major changes to their plans when he instructs them to tell the most insignificant people in the most out-of-the-way places.
  • Illustration: Max Lucado said God announced Jesus' birth to the shepherds because they were most likely to receive the news with faith.

• I find it fascinating that God didn't reveal himself to the religious leaders.
• The fundamental mistake the religious leaders made was trying to force God to fit in their religious boxes.
  • Illustration: In Rumors of Another World, Philip Yancey says there are two ways of looking at the world: "One takes the world apart, while the other seeks to connect and put together."
• Similarly, there are two approaches to God.
• One approach is the theology of dissection, in which we make God manageable by reducing him to a set of theological propositions.
  • Illustration: A.W. Tozer suggests this kind of theology leaves us with a God who can "never surprise us, never overwhelm us, never astonish us, never transcend us."
• The religious leaders were reductionist theologians.
  • Matthew 23:23
• The other approach is the theology of mystery.
• Isaiah 55:8 says that God's thoughts are further from the thoughts of humans than the heavens are from the earth.
  • Illustrations: Astronomers have discovered galaxies 13.2 billion light years away, which is about the distance our thoughts are from God's.
• Children naturally adhere to a theology of mystery.
  • Illustration: John Chrysostom suggests that while children readily accept the mysteries of the Bible, adults seek rational theories and explanations.
• The shepherds exhibited childlike faith, because they assumed God could act in any way he wanted.
  • Illustration: Mark Nepo said, "Birds don't need ornithologists to fly."
• God doesn't need theologians in order to do miracles.
• God is looking for people who won't tell him what he can't do or put him in little religious boxes.
• The shepherds took God at face value; when they heard the news, they embraced it with a simple childlike faith.
• Sometimes we miss the miracle because we analyze it to death.
  • Illustration: Batterson recounts a humorous e-mail called "Santa Claus: from an Engineer's Perspective."

• Illustration: Albert Einstein says that the person who cannot experience wonder has ceased living because he has ceased seeing.
• I hope that you can re-experience the mystery of Christmas—the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God of all Creation was born as a helpless little baby in Bethlehem.

For the full text of this sermon, go to "The Miracle of Christmas."