"Christmas Questions"

“Christmas Questions”

INTRODUCTION: This morning, I want to ask some “Christmas Questions” … WHY?

I’ve always had a questioning mind: LIKE:

o How can a brown cow, eat green grass, and give white milk?

o If man evolved from apes, why do we still have apes?

o If a man stands in the middle of the forest, speaking … and there is no woman to hear him … is he still wrong?

Somebody sent me this set of TEST QUESTIONS to answer:

o What kind of coffee was served on the Titanic? SANKA

o What do prisoners use to talk to each other? CELL PHONES

o What do Eskimos get from sitting on the ice too long? POLAROIDS

o What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t work? A STICK

o Why do gorillas have such big nostrils? BECAUSE THEY HAVE SUCH BIG FINGERS!

I have a QUESTIONING mind … “Inquiring minds want to know.” SO … I came up with some “Christmas Questions” about the Christmas story. NOT … to question God or His methods. BUT … to get a better understanding of WHY God did what He did concerning the birth of His Son.

Galatians 4:4 – “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,”

The time was right … the stage was set … everything was ready … THEN Jesus was born. It was GOD’S PLAN … GOD’S TIMETABLE … GOD’S DESIGN. God was in charge … AMEN? Nothing happened by accident or chance. God had a PURPOSE in all that He did.

QUESTION #1 – WHY GABRIEL? – Luke 1:26

Why not MICHAEL, the Arch-angel … or another angel? There were 10’s of thousands of angels to choose from.

God chose GABRIEL instead of MICHAEL … WHY?

MICHAEL was a special angel … sent to Israel … the Jews. Angels are God’s “messengers” … and Michael’s messages were always to the Jews. Jesus was born … NOT just for the Jews … BUT for the whole world.

When we look at GABRIEL, we see that God chose him to tell Daniel (Daniel Ch. 8) of the 2nd COMING of Christ. WHO BETTER to tell Mary of the 1st COMING of Christ?

It was GABRIEL who told Daniel the TIME that Jesus would be born. Daniel 9:25 – “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks:”

Since God used GABRIEL to tell the TIME of Jesus’ birth 600 years earlier … God would use Gabriel to ANNOUNCE His birth to Mary. God was CONSISTENT in His MESSAGE and His MESSENGER.

QUESTION #2 – WHY MARY? – Luke 1:27-28

STORY – “Once there was a little boy who was really mean. At Christmas-time, the little boy wrote out 12 pages of toys that he wanted his parents to give him for Christmas. His parents were out-raged that he should so selfishly ask for so many things. They sat him down in front of the manger scene in the Living Room, and told him to sit there, look at the manger scene, and remember what Christmas was really about. Then, he should write a letter to Jesus.

The mean little boy sits there for awhile, staring at the manger scene, then gets a pencil & a pad of paper and begins to write: “Dear Jesus, if you will bring me all the toys, I’ll be good for a whole year.” He thinks for a minute, then tears up the paper. He writes again: “Dear Jesus, if you will bring me all the toys, I’ll be good for a whole week.” But, once again, he tears up the paper.

He once again sits in front of the manger scene, and gently reaches over and picks up the figure of Mary, places it into a shoe box, and sets the shoe box in the back of his closet. Then, he writes another letter: “Dear Jesus, if you ever want to see your mother again …”

WHY MARY? Mary was a VIRGIN. Jesus HAD to be born of a virgin or Jesus would have had a sin nature like Joseph.

BUT … WHY MARY? There were LOTS of virgins Nazareth, I’m sure. We’re given a CLUE in 1:38.

#1 – She was willing to be used of God ANY WAY God wanted. She was a yielded vessel. Mary: “Just say it, Lord … and I will do it.”

#2 – She believed – 1:45

WHAT did she believe?

1.- She believed in the PROMISES of God … that God would send the Messiah.

2.- She believed in the POWER of God … that God would DO what He had PROMISED.