God Chose You on Purpose|12.24.25| Misfit Christmas pt.5

Merry Christmas! I’m so happy to be here with you today, and I’ve got to say, you all look so good! I’ve never seen so many bows and sparkles and neck ties and colorful socks in my entire life!

And I’m sure that if we could see everyone joining us online right now, we’d see some Christmas best, some Christmas pajamas, and maybe even a Santa-hat or two!

And I know that looks aren’t everything, but it sure gets you into the holiday spirit to be part of a big get-together like this with so many well-dressed folks! The hard part of a big get-together like this is that it’s easy to get lost in the crowd.

And no one likes to feel like they don’t belong, so I’ve got a couple questions to help us see how we might relate with the people around us. And those of you online, I want you to participate as well by adding your voice to the comment section!

First, raise your hand if you had an advent calendar this month. Could’ve been the ones with little pieces of chocolate for each day, or stickers and stuff. Maybe the parents had a certain type of beverage advent calendar?...?

My kids love the little chocolate pieces, but a few years ago, we had a new Christmas book every night for story time.

Okay, second question, maybe you’ll be surprised by who answers similarly to you: Raise your hand if you snuck a cookie when you shouldn’t have. Be honest!

Maybe an easier thing to fess up to is what your favorite cookie is. If you are an adult and you have a kid near you, tap them on the shoulder and tell them what your favorite cookie is.

If you’re joining us online, type in the comments what your favorite Christmas cookie is right now.

Okay, now this last question is for everyone, kids, adults, everyone: raise your hand if you’ve ever felt like an outsider. Maybe you showed up somewhere and didn’t know very many people. Maybe you just felt a bit like a misfit.

In the classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer story, there’s a place called the Island of Misfit Toys, which is painted as this lonely refuge for all the toys that were considered rejects or misfits.

There’s a cowboy who rides an ostrich instead of a horse.

There’s a bird that can’t fly, but swims instead.

There’s a train with square wheels.

Each one was made for a purpose, but they feel broken, or defective, or unwanted. And so they spend their days waiting…HOPING that someday, someone will come who sees value in them again.

And then in the story’s beautiful twist, who shows up? Rudolph, the misfit reindeer with the nose that glows.

He finds them and doesn’t see them as rejects. He sees them as friends worth saving. So he promises to tell Santa, and by the end of the story, the toys are rescued, restored, and given to children who love them.

Now, for the discerning ear, you can tell that this is so much more than a children’s story…it’s a picture of the gospel, the good news of a God who doesn’t discard anyone, but pursues every last misfit and redeems them into his story of love and restoration.

And this is meaningful to each of us because we live in a world of misfit toys: people who feel forgotten, overlooked, or disqualified. People who believe their flaws or their inexperience makes them unusable in the Kingdom of God.

But the good news of Christmas is that God sees value where the world only sees brokenness.

And for many of us, that’s part of what we’ve experienced as we’ve felt God calling us in our hearts. But even when we first come to church, or if we’ve gone to church our whole lives, it can still be easy to feel like a MISFIT here in church.

We look at the other people around us and we start to hear the lies in our heads:

“I don’t belong here.” “My story is too messy, so I can’t open up about it.” “God can totally use OTHER people, but not me. I’m too… broken, inexperienced, too young, too old…”

But what if God chose you on purpose? Before you cleaned anything up. Before you proved anything. Because it seems like God has a habit of choosing the people that others would overlook and ignore.

[scripture Ref]

That’s why we’re going to look at one of my favorite parts of the Christmas story tonight from Luke ch2 (p44). Because it talks about the shepherds.

Now, if you’ve been a part of church for any amount of time, or if you’ve ever seen a Christmas special before in your life, you might have an image of the shepherds in your mind. But I’ve got to make sure you understand who these people were.

They weren’t exactly influential or popular members of their community. Oftentimes, shepherds were the lower class people who might have had a home, but needed a second job to provide for their families, so they would hire themselves out to take care of sheep, being gone from their families for long stretches of time. Any of you who have truck drivers or travel nurses in your families know exactly what that is like to not be able to stay as connected with the people you love.

But because the shepherds were always travelling out in the open country with the sheep, because they were always strangers to the towns they visited, because they were often foreigners who were doing manual labor, their reputation was that they couldn’t be trusted. People usually gave them a wide berth.

So let me just say what we’re all thinking: These are NOT the type of people that anyone expected God to show up for.

Maybe you can relate. Maybe you’ve had a job where you had to keep working while everyone else celebrates. Maybe you’ve felt unseen and unappreciated before. Maybe you’ve assumed that God would talk to OTHER people instead of you.

And yet… these are EXACTLY the people that God chooses. Let’s read:

[Luke 2:8-20]

[Luke 2:8-9]

It’s dark, everyone is asleep, and all of a sudden, there are a million angels sent by God to proclaim the good news that God’s plan of healing and restoration is fully coming to be. The Savior, the one who rescues, the Messiah, the expected deliverer, the Lord, the one who has ultimate authority over everything — has been born!

And if it were me, I would’ve sent those angels to all the leaders of the world. Get the word out! Let everyone know!

But that’s not what God did. God didn’t send the angels to the capital, but rather to the fields on the outskirts of the area. He didn’t send his messengers to main street, he sent them to the country, to the outsiders.

THESE are the people that God chose as his first evangelists, the first ones to be sent to share the good news that God had come to earth in the person of Jesus.

Here they were, taking turns with the nightwatch, when all of a sudden, LIGHT shone on them, like a spotlight in search of something. And, of course, the shepherds are terrified! They’re not used to being highlighted.

[Luke 2:10-11]

But the angel says, “Don’t be afraid, I’m bringing you good news: to YOU is born the savior.”

And I wonder, did the shepherds say, “to ME?! Why me? I’m a nobody. Bottom rung of the ladder. People don’t even look me in the eye when I’m buying something from the store.”

But the angel backs up the statement when the rest of the heavenly host shows up to proclaim the good news to the shepherds. Yep! God’s so sure he wanted YOU to receive this message that he sent a MILLION of us to tell you!

Because here’s the truth: God loves to use the least and the lowest to share about his incredible gift of grace.

The world tells us that only the powerful or the rich can make an impact. Only political leaders can make a change. Only celebrities can influence the masses. That’s what most people believe, right?

So the rest of us try to just live good lives in our own sphere, but even our children and our closest friends are influenced more by Youtube and social media than by OUR impact on their lives, or at least, it seems that way.

And it’s easy to get down. We wonder if we have a greater purpose in life. We wonder if our whole life is just supposed to be stumbling from one distraction to another, bingeing on TV and scrolling the internet, or daydreaming about the next purchase or trip…

…over and over again so that we don’t realize that we aren’t as close with our friends as we’d like. Our job isn’t very fulfilling, and the money coming in doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.

And then we come here, or we are dragged here by Grandma, and we hear about “good news” of “great joy” for “all people,” but it must be for OTHER people. That good news probably isn’t for MY life, or MY family, or where I live. It’s probably for someone else.

“Nope!” the angel says. “To YOU is born a Savior.” This wasn’t a general announcement, it was PERSONAL.

[Luke 2:15-16]

So they HEAR the message, and then they HURRY to act. No hesitation. No debate about whether or not they should check it out. No “maybe later.” They don’t ease into faith, they MOVE.

Not because they were trying to earn anything, but because joy always spills over!

[Luke 2:17-18]

And when they find the baby, the one they had been told about, they can’t help it, they tell everyone else they meet about the angels and the message and the light and the incredible news!

[Luke 2:20]

And then they go back to their job, praising God and making sure everyone knows what they heard and saw. These misfits, these poor, probably dirty, probably a little smelly… this group of “nobodies”...

God uses them to be the first ones to see Jesus and then go and tell the good news of God’s rescue to everyone. They are the first witnesses and the first messengers. And we don’t even know their NAMES, but 2000 years later, we’re STILL talking about what God did through them!

[Christmas means]

Christmas means God didn’t just come to rescue misfits…

He came to claim you, call you His own, and send you with good news for others.

Because I know that you can be sitting in a packed room, singing beautiful songs, twinkling lights everywhere… and STILL feel like the one person who doesn’t really fit here.

In fact, I know that you may have walked in here TODAY/NIGHT thinking you were the LAST person God was thinking about.

This story tells us otherwise. This story shows us that God is always reaching out to the people that feel overlooked.

Some of you came in today/night feeling anxious, or numb, or carrying more than you’ll ever tell anyone or post about online.

But the good news that you need to hear is that you DON’T need to climb your way to God. Because God has already climbed all the way down to you.

And he didn’t come just to rescue misfits like you and me. He came to claim you as his own. He’s inviting you to say YES and be sent with that good news for others.

[The only gift]

Because Christmas is God’s way of saying: “I want you.”

Not the cleaned up version of you.

Not the “perfect” version of you.

Just…you.

I want you, because I love you, because I came to shine a light into your life. I came to heal the parts of you that are hurt and broken. I came to give you new life.

And remember the Connect Card we pointed to earlier in the service? I’d like everyone to grab one. There should be enough. Everyone should grab one.

Because it’s a simple card that has a couple boxes that you can choose to check. Maybe you’re here and God is shining his light into your life for the first time. If that’s you, I want you to check the box that says, “I’m saying YES to Jesus for the FIRST TIME.”

Maybe you’ve been following God for a while, but you feel him calling you back. You feel him calling you to RECOMMIT to a life of following Jesus. If that’s you, check that box. We want to help you and give you some resources for your faith.

And for those of you who already know Jesus and are already doing your best with following him, maybe tonight he’s whispering about someone he wants you to show love to.

Check the box that says “Prayer/Next Step” and either write your prayer request, or write down the name of the person that God just put on your heart.

Don’t underestimate what God can do through one misfit who says YES.

[END]

In just a few minutes, we’re going to be passing the plates for our tithes and offerings, and I’d like you to put that Connect Card in the plate when it comes by. This is your moment to say YES to whatever God is putting in your heart.

This is your moment to fully step into the point of Christmas:

Because Christmas is when we celebrate that the darkness cannot overcome the Light.

Christmas is when those who feel far off and overlooked experienced God-With-Us who draws close and claims us with his love.

Christmas is when we realize that our shame can never keep us away from God’s love because his Grace is so much stronger than anything we ever did.

We know this because Jesus didn’t wait for the world to get its act together. He stepped INTO the mess. Into the dark. Into your life… to bring us home.

Isn’t that good news?