[Machine transcription]
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, looking at the Old Testament reading from the prophet Micah for the text,
please be seated. In a TV show years ago called Kids Say the Darnedest Things,
kids were asked questions. They would usually say something silly and people would laugh. It’s a
great concept.
Example, one kid was asked,
what do you want to be
when you grow up?
And he said, a pilot.
And the host said, oh,
what if you were flying a plane
and all of the engines stopped?
What would you say?
And the kid responded,
our Father who art in heaven.
Another kid was asked,
who’s the boss at your house?
Your mom or your dad?
And the kid said, both.
And the host said,
ah, you’re a diplomat, aren’t you?
And the child said,
no, I’m a Catholic Baptist.
The best one.
A girl was asked,
what is the perfect husband?
And the girl said,
a man who will provide lots of money,
lots of horses,
will let you have 22 kids,
and doesn’t put up a fight.
The host asked,
so what do you want to be
when you grow up?
And the girl replied, a nun, although they’re little, truly, little kids say the darndest
things.
Little things matter.
The TV show helped to show that, but it’s in the Christmas story that we really see
that little things mean a lot.
We see it in that reading from the prophet Micah, which is a prophecy of where someone
is coming from who will be the ruler of God’s people. It’s the town of Bethlehem.
We read from Micah,
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel. Now in those
days Bethlehem was a little insignificant place. It wasn’t hugely populated and
there was nothing really important about it in going on there industry-wise.
Although the name Bethlehem literally means house of bread, there’s no
indication that their bread output put them on the map then. But Bethlehem was
the hometown of the greatest king of Israel, King David. And although it was
little and insignificant, Micah says that Bethlehem is going to be the birthplace
of another ruler. Little Bethlehem was going to be the host for another little
and insignificant thing, a little child, a baby in fact. Even in today’s world it’s
oftentimes painfully easy to see how little and insignificant that children
are treated. The evil in our world can take advantage of little children. Abuse,
abandonment, abduction, abortion, Amber Alerts, child trafficking, slavery, and
and even murders of little children again it’s far too easy to see what evil
and what sin does to children but it’s also easy to see what sin does to us
recently I was talking with a friend not a Christian talking about people’s
actions in certain situations and she said you know basically everybody is
selfish indeed. I like to call it the sin of self-promotion, of trying to establish
our own self-worth and making ourselves look big and significant and we may take
advantage of little and insignificant things to promote ourselves and to make
us look big and significant. There may be people that you’ve stepped on climbing
up the corporate ladder.
You may have said, posted, or texted things about people to make yourself look better.
You said bad things about them so that you would look better.
There may be people whose reputations were hurt by your self-promotion.
You know, maybe that little white lie you told wasn’t so little.
Maybe that little thing that you stole really wasn’t that little. Maybe that
little thing that you said about someone, well it sure didn’t hurt a little. Yes,
even adults can say, do, or think the darndest things, the darndest sinful
things and your sin may seem to make you big and significant but really it makes
you little and insignificant to God because it separates you from him when
you seek to make yourself big and significant your focus is off of God and
it’s on you separates you from God and sometimes when when you realize your sin
and are convicted of it you you probably feel little but God doesn’t leave you
that way God loves the little and insignificant and he wants to forgive
your sin and and bring you back close to him not separated but with him and and
make you significant and he does this by using the little and insignificant
he uses the little things to save you from your self-destruction of self-promotion.
God uses a little baby born in a little town of Bethlehem by a little-known young
girl who put her little baby into a little manger. And all of it happening at
night out of sight and with very little fanfare it all happened as a as a
little thing not as some some big event and we hear this really well in the in
the carol Oh little town of Bethlehem which theologically has so much great
stuff in it you know it Oh little town of Bethlehem how still we see thee lie
above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by painting this picture
of this little town of Bethlehem where nothing big is going on.
It’s insignificant.
It’s hardly on the map.
Life just kind of goes by.
But God uses it.
He uses little things for a big purpose.
Because the carol goes on.
Yeah, oh little town of Bethlehem, still we see thee lie.
You’re insignificant, nothing much happens here, and then the killer.
yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light the hopes and fears of
all the years are met in thee tonight in this little insignificant place
Bethlehem God uses it for a huge event that gathers the hopes and fears of
people and relieves them and brings this Savior, this one who would rule God’s
people into the world. This shining light in the darkness of the streets
of our life. This little baby Jesus who comes from Bethlehem comes to rule his
people but not with power but in love and in grace Jesus comes to lead us out
of our sin of self-promotion and he does it by eventually dying on a cross not by
ruling us with some sort of power and being like big and significant like some
ruler but no as as something little and insignificant that that dies on a cross
which should have happened to us our sin should put us there but but Jesus takes
it for us he comes and dies for us even though we’re little and insignificant
in fact maybe it’s better to say Jesus comes and dies for us because we are
little and insignificant because we’re sinners Romans chapter 5 verse 8 says
this maybe it’s familiar to you while we were yet sinners Christ died for us
even while we’re sinners even though we’re little and insignificant Jesus
dies for you anyway in Jesus dying for us God says to us sinners he says the
darndest thing he says just two seemingly little and insignificant words
you’re forgiven.
They’re not so little and insignificant, are they?
When we think about the things that we’ve done,
when you think about what you’ve said
or thought or actually done,
those two words, you’re forgiven,
are not so little.
God continues to come to us
in little and insignificant things.
God uses words, we use words all the time,
we hardly pay attention to them sometimes,
but God uses words to proclaim that good news
of this little baby coming to us.
And God uses water in baptism,
just a little water that yet is a flood
that washes away sins.
And in the Lord’s Supper, in a little bit of bread,
and a little bit of wine there’s a feast of God’s grace and forgiveness in these
things in words in water in in bread and wine God uses them as a means of his
gracious forgiveness something so little it seems but it’s huge again God
uses little things for a big purpose. And He uses us. He uses us to care for little
and insignificant things, to protect the little, to protect the insignificant, to
provide for their needs. And God uses this church. St. Paul Lutheran Church is
not a huge church. We’re not a mega church by any means, but God uses us. None
of our organizations in the church are all that big, but God uses us. He uses
the LWML, and the Altar Guild, and the Christian Concerns, and Outreach, and
Music, and Fellowship, and Finance, and Education, and Elders, and Council, and if
I’m missing you, I’m sorry, I’m just shooting off the top of my head here, but
God uses all of us to serve Him and others through this church. And He uses
He uses little old you to proclaim the good news to others, especially those who
need to hear it. Maybe even especially during this holiday season where it’s
not so joyous for them. God can use you to bring this word of good news to them
about this little baby born
in this little town of Bethlehem
lying in a little manger
who comes to save them
and forgive them too.
You get to tell them
the same little words
that Jesus has said to us.
You’re forgiven.
And maybe there’s someone
that you need to forgive.
Maybe there’s someone
who needs to hear those darndest little words
come out of you to say to them,
hey, you’re forgiven.
God uses little old you for that.
With God, it’s the little things, sinners,
like you and me.
You and me who’ve been saved by a little child
born in a little town
who did big things for us.
perhaps you’re feeling particularly little and insignificant in life right
now and you need to hear that you’re not little and insignificant to God you
matter so much that he gave you his son and that through his death and
resurrection you have those words the darndest things that God says to us
you’re forgiven that is for you brothers and sisters for all little
insignificant sinners. We mean everything to God. It’s His name that we rejoice.
Amen. Now may the peace of God which goes beyond all understanding keep your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
