Christmas Disguised Series

When we think about the Christmas account, those who are familiar with it, we think about bright stars, stables, shepherds, and angels singing. That is how we think about the story. However, the Matthew account is different. He doesn't go into a lot of details. Listen to how he describes this familiar story.

Text: Matthew 1:18-25, 2:1 (TLB)

These are the facts concerning the birth of Jesus Christ: His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her fiancé, being a man of stern principle,* decided to break the engagement but to do it quietly, as he didn’t want to publicly disgrace her. As he lay awake considering this, he fell into a dream, and saw an angel standing beside him. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “don’t hesitate to take Mary as your wife! For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a Son, and you shall name him Jesus (meaning ‘Savior’), for he will save his people from their sins. This will fulfill God’s message through his prophets—‘Listen! The virgin shall conceive a child! She shall give birth to a Son, and he shall be called “Emmanuel” (meaning “God is with us”).’” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel commanded and brought Mary home to be his wife, but she remained a virgin until her Son was born; and Joseph named him “Jesus.”

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, in Judea, during the reign of King Herod.

Matthew's account is at best the reader's digest version of the birth of Jesus. He gives us the cliff notes version. The high notes and nothing else. He simply announces that Mary is pregnant. Joseph has doubts. He has an angel visit. He overcomes his doubts. Jesus is born under Herod's nose. In fact, Matthew fast forwards from Mary conceiving Jesus to Mary having Jesus. It is straight forward. It is nice and neat. It is the sanitized version that leaves out all the plans that it took to get to the point of Jesus' birth. Jesus' birth was the result of a long thought-out plan. Before the foundation of the world the lamb was slain. In the fullness of time Jesus was born. Long before Mary and Joseph had any plans, God was working on bringing His plan to pass to send Jesus to a virgin, in Bethlehem, in a stable, noticed by shepherds and wise men. God knew that to manage the manger you must plan. He also knew to manage the manger you must prepare! That is why, although Matthew doesn't record it, Mary goes and spends time with her pregnant cousin Elizabeth. Time away to prepare her own heart. Time away so that she could ponder all that had been promised. To hide in her heart all the truths of the prophecies. But there is one more crucial step in managing a manger. Planning is critical. Preparing is essential. However, there is one more thing we must do after we plan and prepare. We must perform.

To manage the manger you must perform.

God didn’t just have a plan. God didn't just prepare. God performed. I am so thankful that God had good intentions towards us. I am thankful that He had a plan to rescue us. I am glad that from before time began, He was preparing. But today I am most thankful that He did more than just plan and prepare. I am thankful that He executed the plan. He pulls the trigger. He sets things in motions. His intentions didn't save us. His preparation didn't save us. The thing that makes salvation and rescue possible is the fact that He actually did what He planned for and prepared to do. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" is more than just a proverb. It would have been a reality if God had only had good thoughts and intentions towards us. Instead, He goes takes one more step. He follows through. He sends His Son! He performs. I, for one, am grateful that God does what He told Jeremiah He would do - I watch over my word to perform it.

It is this aspect of God and His faithfulness to perform once all the plans and preparations are in place that we must address in our own life today.

Too many of us plan but we don’t execute or perform. We don't manage the manger correctly in our life because we never pull the trigger and we never follow through. We have dreams and plans. We may even start making preparations. However, we never really do what we spent time, money, energy on and we mismanage the manger and nothing is birthed. Why?