Christmas Treasures Worth Pondering Series

Our key text today is Luke 2:19

Title: Christmas Treasures Worth Pondering

Theme: What is so Special about Christmas

Series: Grasping the Truths of Christmas

Introduction: On the twenty-fifth of this month much of the United States will close their stores, business offices will be closed and very few people will be traveling in comparison to the normal day of the week. Christmas has even provided a day off for those who reject the worship due to Christ, the Savior of the world.

The response of most today, even church attendees, is no where near like those who heard the proclamation of the birth of Christ on that first Christmas. However, to Holy Spirit-illuminated Christians there are treasures worth pondering in their hearts. They become like Mary, who in the midst of all the excitement, took time to ponder. The Bible says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19) Let us Pray!

This passage of Scripture is the beautiful picture of a humble trusting heart that is after God. Mary had been told that her child was truly of God. The angel Gabriel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35) Both Joseph and Mary were told that they were to name the baby, conceived through the Holy Spirit, Jesus. (Matthew 1:20-21; Luke 1:31,35) Mary and Joseph no doubt talked about their visits from the angel with each other over the several months of her pregnancy, therefore, she knew more than anybody that baby Jesus was the Messiah, (Messias) the Christ, (Chriastos) meaning “the anointed One” or the “anointed.” (The New International Dictionary of the Bible)

We live in a time which names mean very little or nothing. However, Joseph and Mary lived in a time when names meant something and almost everyone knew what they meant. I am convinced they knew why they were to name the Son of God, Jesus, (Iesous) meaning “Savior.” (The Complete Word Study Dictionary) As a matter of fact the angel, in a dream, told Joseph that he was to give the son born to them the name “Jesus” “because he [would] save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

Mary “pondered” (sumballo) meaning to consider, putting one thing with another in her mind while considering the circumstances and all that has been said and then holding them in her heart. (The Complete Word Study Dictionary; Vines Amplified Expository Dictionary of the New Testament Words; Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon)

Proposition: I would propose to you there is much in “Grasping the Truths of Christmas” that is worthy of pondering, worth meditating on, and holding within the child of God’s heart. If you are a child of God, then the Holy Spirit has come into your life and has given you revelation and illumination about Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Holy Anointed One, the Savior of your soul. There is much for you to ponder on this Christmas.

Interrogative Sentence: What is so special about Christmas? Is there relevance in Christmas? What is the reason for and the result of Christmas?

Transitional Sentence: There are three truths that the Holy Spirit of God wants you to ponder on today. Many do not know the “Relevance of Christmas.” “Relevant,” means having to do with the case at hand.

The Apostle Paul writes about the case at hand, Jesus Christ, “…being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)

On June 6, 1944, a date known ever since as D-Day, a mighty armada crossed a narrow strip of sea from England to Normandy, France. Simultaneously U.S., British, and Canadian forces landed on five separate beachheads. By the end of August 1944, just three months later all of northern France was liberated, and the invading forces reorganized for the drive into Germany, where they eventually meet with Soviet forces advancing from the east to bring an end to the Nazi grip on western Europe. That was big news regarding the results of World War II.

Just a little over 2,000 years ago, bigger news came through the angel announcing the birth of Christ, when God in the flesh came, walked on this war-torn earth during it’s battle with man’s sinful flesh, the world’s view and Satan. Sin always holds a multitude in its grip. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit invaded and broke that grip by Jesus coming on the first Christmas. Jesus, being God and man, made the way to take on the sins of the world upon Himself, pay the ultimate price on the Cross of Calvary, be raised from the dead thus, getting victory over sin and death and liberating all who accept Him as personal Savior and Lord.