An Amazing Christmas

Title: An Amazing Christmas

Introduction:

When we think about Christmas there are a lot of things we can hardly believe, things we kind of place in fantasyland. We can understand why some have made up stories at Christmas, like flying reindeer, Santa Claus, and the tinsel and the Christmas trees. That’s because if you really think about the real Christmas it all seems like another wonderful fairy tale kind of story.

But we need to see that these are real people, who lived real lives, and faced some real problems. And we see God behind all these events of Christmas doing some incredible things in their lives as they face these real issues of life.

Luke shares how things were all set up by God. He tells us about the incredible birth of John the Baptist, and how it fits into the birth of Jesus. He tells how Elizabeth was old and barren, past the age of child-birth, but she was going to have a son. And Mary is young and a virgin, never having known a man in a physical way, and she’s going to have a son too.

But here are two ordinary, righteous people that God was working in and through. Ordinary Mary was betrothed to ordinary Joseph. They would have been happy to just be ordinary husband and wife, living ordinary lives.

But God interrupted the ordinary. He sent His angel, Gabriel. And four amazing things happened to these ordinary people, to Mary. Let’s look at it.

1. An Amazing Announcement vss. 31-37

This is an amazing announcement, isn’t it? Just when we begin to learn enough about God’s system of nature and understand how reliable it is, with the sun rising and setting, when the moon will shine at it’s fullest, when the rain will fall, or when things are ripe for a tornado, when the tide rises and falls, when the leaves turn colors, etc. – God in His Sovereignty decides to interrupt the routine and the natural.

God sends Gabriel to Mary with this announcement.

I like the human-ness seen in the people of this amazing announcement. Zacharias, it says in verse 12, was troubled and feared. In verse 29 we see that Mary was troubled too. There’s a lot of fear and trouble going on.

But don’t be too hard on them. You leave this service today and go out in the parking lot, and you see an angel sitting on the hood of your car, you might stutter a little bit yourself.

Well, Gabriel announces that something is going to take place that is beyond the boundaries of biology. No law of physics can explain it; no scientist can hypothesize it; no computer can predict it. The Son of the Most High will be born of a virgin.

This announcement is beyond the natural, beyond the rational, beyond explanation.

It was an amazing announcement.

But it was also

2. An Amazing Assignment

It’s amazing that God chose ordinary Mary, probably just a kid, around 14 years old. But how could God trust such an important role in the plan of His redemption of mankind to a young girl?!

You know what 14-year-old girls are like, don’t you? You don’t? Well, let me take you on a school bus route sometime. The 14-year-old girls are a little boy crazy at that age, they’re giggly junior highers, who wear T-shirts that have all kinds of weird sayings on them, with ipods in their ears. And they are 14 years old trying to act like 28 year olds.

You would have thought that our all-wise God might have chosen a devout virgin of about 35 years old or so.

And no doubt Mary’s faith was the faith of a child. And maybe that’s why when this Son grew up and taught others, that He kept saying over and over that only those with child-like faith would ever see the kingdom of God. They’re so trusting.

But God, in all His wisdom, chose Mary. She had no idea that she was going to be God’s choice, the favored one who would bring the Messiah into the world, the mother of Jesus, the Savior, the Son of God…that God was going to leave all the riches and royalty of heaven to come to people on earth so they might be saved. You see, she just lived a holy and righteous life because of her love for God. She didn’t have to be bribed to get to God, and have a cute little program put on to get her to God. She wanted to love God and please Him.

Why should we live holy, righteous lives? Because we think God may do something for us? Mary lived that kind of life because she loved God, and knew He was the only One who could rescue her from a life of sin. And that’s why we are to live that kind of life.