A Humble Beginning
Series: Beginnings of a Legacy
December 20, 2009
As I was re-reading the story of Jesus’ birth, (for the billionth time)… I was amazed at how no matter how many times I read it, God always has something new to show me, that I’ve never seen before! This time as I read, I began to think about the whole idea of God’s providence. Anyone know what ‘providence’ is? Whether you understand (or believe) in it or not, everyone of us is affected by it. See,
• EITHER you believe that you’re just dust in the wind, an accident waiting to happen… OR… you believe that there’s order in the world we live in.
• EITHER you believe that your life is just a coincidental chance in the vastness of space… OR… you believe that there’s a purpose, a plan…a reason for your existence. It’s one or the other…
• EITHER God’s guiding hand is involved in history, down to the minutest details of my life…OR… my life is a blip on the screen of evolutionary time.
Now…the belief that God is in control, and that you can see His guiding hand in every detail of human existence is what Christians call… PROVIDENCE. It’s God in all of His goodness… God in all of His power, working in and through everything and everyone…directing the entire universe. It’s the idea that “history” is in reality… HIS-STORY! And someday when we see it from His perspective, we’ll realize how incredibly and intimately involved He’s been in (not only) in human history… but in MY LIFE!
As I read about the birth of Jesus this morning, I want you to see the providential hand of God working behind the scenes to put this whole thing together…READ Luke 2:1-7…
At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was obviously pregnant by this time.6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.” –Luke 2:1-7 (NLT)
As I read this passage this week I saw God’s providence working in at least 3 ways… and I want you to see it too!
1st of all in…
1. The TIMING of His birth
2. The PLACE of His birth and
3. The NATURE of His birth…
1st let’s take a look at the timing of Christ’s birth…
1. The TIMING of His birth
Luke makes the timing of Jesus’ birth very clear. He says…
At that time… the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) Now, in the past, I’ve just kind of skimmed over that part because it didn’t really mean that much to me… but the bible is being very specific for a reason. God wants us to know that the birth of Jesus Christ was a real event, and it happened to real people. This isn’t some kind of mythical story the bible is telling here… it really occurred! To prove it, God gives us the exact time that it happened! He says that “Augustus” was the Roman Emperor. Augustus was a real person… you can check him out in any secular history book. At that time Rome occupied Israel…and the Jews hated them for it! Caesar Augustus was totally oblivious to what was going on with Mary and Joseph… they were ‘nobodies’ to him. Yet unbenounced to Him, God, was providentially directing and using this secular Emperors actions to fit perfectly into His timetable. Can God use unbelievers for His purposes? You better believe He can! The amazing thing is that when God’s providence is directing you, you very rarely know it. You usually find it out AFTER the fact!
Augustus was born Gaius Octavius in 63 B.C. He was the grandnephew of Julius Caesar, who adopted him as a son and officially declared him the heir to the throne of the Roman Empire. After the assassination of Julius, Octavian didn’t immediately ascend to the throne… He had a power struggle with Mark Antony but eventually he prevailed and ruled the Roman Empire from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14. Now, “Augustus”, wasn’t actually his name, it was a title that he gained which meant “majestic, highly honored one”. Augustus had great military, political, and social skills, and under his rule, he was able to end all the little civil wars in the Empire, bringing about an incredible peace through out the entire known world. It was called the “Pax Romana”, or “peace of Rome” (if you know your history).
He gave his subjects limited freedom and respected their customs and religions. As a result, God used him as an instrument to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. Luke refers to one of the most important of those instruments in vs.1…“a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered” (2:1). Now, a decree was a pretty common government action in those days, and this particular decree said that officials in all parts of the Empire must conduct a registration, or census. There were only 2 reasons why the Roman government would want to conduct a census…
1. To determine which young men were eligible for military service. Since Jews were exempt from Roman military service, it had to be the 2nd reason…
2. To figure out who they should tax! (some things never change huh?)
Now, the Jews aren’t any different from us today… they HATED taxes! But yet God was using this tax to implement His plan for His Son’s birth. Has God ever used something you “hate” as a way of working in your life? Oh yea! He does that all the time! I’ve ‘hated’ some of the trials I’ve had to go through in the past… but God somehow used them to overcome my weaknesses, to change me and transform me! To the point that the things I hated the most became my greatest friends! In this case… God was using what the Jews despised to bless the entire world!
Now, history tells us that, due to various delays and difficulties, Caesar’s census wasn’t carried out in Palestine until 2-4 years after it was first announced. It wasn’t until Augustus imposed a strict deadline for compliance, that average Jewish citizens like Joseph and Mary had to move quickly to get to their hometown and register their names.
Now, the Romans didn’t require that people go back to their hometown for the census…but Jewish custom did! So Mary and Joseph had to go back to Bethlehem “because (according to Luke 2:4) he [Joseph] was of the house and lineage of David” In otherwords, because Bethlehem was the hometown of King David…and Joseph was from David’s ancestry… he had to go to Bethlehem.
Please understand… this wasn’t all by accident! It wasn’t coincidence! God was working. With the timing of the decree and the fact that they had to go back to their ancestral hometown… God was providentially directing Mary and Joseph to be exactly where He wanted them to be… just in time to fulfill His prediction hundreds of years before, in Micah 5:2-5… But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past. 3 The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the time when the woman in labor gives birth to her son. Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land. 4 And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored all around the world. 5 And he will be the source of our peace.
That verse made no sense to the people who heard it, but somehow, someway… God made it come true (and just as prophesied), Jesus was born in the small village of Bethlehem at just the exact time! AMAZING!!!
Whether you realize it or not, the providence of God is directing your life this morning… and that’s a good thing! You may not know it, or feel it… but He is! Don’t worry… He’ll never violate your free will, but He will guide you and lead you! He can orchestrate events and people to intersect with your life and ‘bump’ you down the right path! I personally believe that the only way a person can end up in hell is if he/she resists and rebels against God’s will each and every day of their life… refusing and resisting God every step of the way… until they finally come to the end of their lives and God has no choice but to let them go where they’ve been trying to go all along! But God has a better plan for your life… IF… you’ll let Him guide you! I thank God for His hand of providential timing in my life! There are so many things that wouldn’t have happened if He hadn’t been working! (story of meeting Ru)
The 2nd evidence of God’s providence in Jesus’ birth is seen in the…
2. The PLACE of His birth
Luke continues his simple account with this general phrase, “So it was, that while they were there” (2:6). We know that Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem, but it’s not initially clear where in the village they were, or exactly how long they had been there. We’re not even sure why Joseph had to bring Mary with him in the 1st place. We don’t know if she had to go along to sign an official document, or to declare some properties, or maybe to verify her ancestry. It may have just been that Joseph didn’t want to leave her alone to have a baby in a hostile town where she was seen as a unwed mother! Unwed mothers were stoned back then…and since Joseph knew that she was pregnant with the Savior of the world, he probably wanted to do everything in his power to keep her safe!
Regardless of “why” Mary was with him, when they got to Bethlehem, (because of the big crowds in a little town) they got there too late to find a good place to stay. They were essentially homeless! Vs.7 tells us that “there was no room for them in the inn” (v. 7). Now, when we think of an inn, we think of like a Motel 6, (or if you’re going in style) a Marriot or Hilton. But the word “inn” here isn’t talking about an actual hotel operated for the feeding and housing of guests, complete with running water and toilets. No, it was more like a KOA campground with cows! The ‘inn’ was a barn with 4 walls and two levels. On the top level there was a loft where people would sleep, while their animals would sleep on the ground floor. Well, because the lofts were all taken, Mary and Joseph were forced to spend their nights huddled on the floor with the animals!
Now, I’m thinking…if God is involved in every detail of our lives…then why didn’t He take the time to make a reservation at the inn for his Son and His 2 adopted parents?
I mean, did God forget this important detail? If so, I don’t want to use Him as MY travel agent! Well, the truth of the matter is…God could have changed the situation… but for some reason He didn’t. Why not? Have you ever wondered why God allowed some things to happen in your life, when you know that He could have changed it if He wanted to? Maybe you’ve asked questions like…
• Why did He allow that person to get sick and die?
• Why did He allow my parents to divorce?
• Why did He allow that accident or tragedy?
• Why didn’t He stop that little girl from being kidnapped and raped?
The fact of the matter is… He could have… and He may even wanted to change the situation (I’m sure that He wasn’t too excited to see his Son in such horrible circumstances)… but He didn’t. Which can only lead to one conclusion… it was His PLAN to have Jesus born in a barn! I can imagine when Jesus was older, he accidently leaves the front door open. I can just hear Mary say (like any good parent), “Jesus, close the door! Were you born in a barn?” Jesus: Well, actually yes!
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I wonder, “God, if you’ve got all this power and the desire to change things… why don’t you? I mean, what’s the problem?” It’s the question I face every time I make a hospital visit. It’s the question I ask every time I see someone suffering with the ravaging effects of cancer. And so oftentimes it seems that He stands by… and does NOTHING!
• Why do godly men and women contract cancer and die?
• Why should mothers give birth to children who are retarded?
• Why are teens, in the prime of life hits by drunken drivers and suddenly ‘snuffed’ out?
Many times innocent people… God fearing, gifted people…robbed of life. Seems to me, a lot of other people deserve to die before these! And I want to cry out…”God… You could have stopped that! Why didn’t you?” It’s a question we all ask at one time or another. In fact, there are people outside the walls of this church who will never darken the door of this building, BECAUSE they’ve experienced what they view as “unjustified suffering”… and they don’t want anything to do with ‘THAT’ kind of a God. But what they don’t understand is that God IS working! And in fact, His plan is BETTER than I can even imagine. WARNING!!! It’s a very dangerous thing to pre-judge God! He sees the whole picture and I only see a small part of the picture…(show wall hanging). Because I’m not God and I don’t have the master plan in hand… I have to trust that He knows what He’s doing! That …His providence is working in the world… and when it’s all said and done…all the puzzle pieces will fit together perfectly… and I will be forced to admit that God is just… and I didn’t know what I was talking about! .
God had a plan in having His Son being born in a barn and it’s found in the 3rd evidence of His providence…
3. The NATURE of His birth
With all the circumstances perfectly arranged, the most important birth in human history finally occurred. Luke reports the birth of our Lord and Savior with amazingly few details, he just says, “she brought forth her firstborn Son” (2:7). Nothing about the labor, nothing about Joseph worrying about her health. Nothing about the difficulty of having a baby in an unsanitary environment like next to a stinking COW!!! But at that moment, the omnipotent, omnipresent , all powerful Lord of the universe appeared as a baby, crying the cry of life, probably weighing less than 10 lbs., and measuring less than 24” in length.
Immediately Luke 2:7 tells us that she wrapped him in “strips of cloth” That was the ancient custom of mothers in that day. They would wrap the arms, legs, and body of the baby with long strips of cloth to provide warmth and security. But they also believed that wrapping the child helped his or her bones to grow straight. I think the reason Luke mentions this is to show us that Mary treated Jesus the way any mother would treat a normal newborn. Physically, He looked like any other child, and his parents treated Him that way. God didn’t provide Him with royal robes or fancy clothing, but simply directed Mary and Joseph to welcome Him as they would any other baby.
Then there’s the familiar phrase “and laid Him in a manger.” That sounds so sweet doesn’t it? Until you realize that the literal translation of the Greek word for “manger” is “feeding trough.” Have you ever seen a ‘feeding trough’? I take a look at the cat dish in my home, and it makes me want to gag! A ‘manger’ is the place where animals get their food… all slobbery and wiped with saliva! Gross! Put your newborn in one of those today and they’d “Child Protective Services” on you! Again… God could have changed that, but He didn’t… Why? Because He wanted to get a point across!!!!
The point is…that when Jesus entered the world, He came to a place that had some of the smelliest, filthiest, and most uncomfortable conditions. When the Son of God came down from heaven, He came all the way down! Phil.2:5-8 tells us that He didn’t hang on to His equality with God; instead, He set it aside for a time and completely humbled Himself.
Have you ever thought about the humble nature of our God? He’s sooooo humble! Isa. says that God, “lives in a high and holy place’… but yet, He made his 1st home on earth a stable! Not a nice, warm, cozy manger scene that you see at Christmas time on your coffee table… but a crude, 1st century, Palestinian stable… complete with steaming piles of cow manure!
• The “Light of the World” entered Bethlehem in the dark of the night.
• The “Word of God” became a speechless infant.
• The “Bread of Life” laid in a feeding trough of all places!
See, no one expected something like this from God! I mean who would have thought that God would enter this world with the stigma of illegitimacy, and the shame of homelessness hanging over His head? God comes to us so humbly, so unexpectantly… that most people don’t accept Him! Nobody would have imagined that the Creator of the Universe would stoop so low… and could be so humble. It’s still a little hard to swallow! God’s humility is an amazing blessing because when He’s as low as we are…we can relate to Him.
But it’s also a huge problem. Because God’s so humble, it’s easy for us to reject or even totally miss Him if we’re not careful. And a lot of people do just that, because He comes in under our radar! If He wanted to, God could have been born in the middle of a world-wide earthquake! Coming down out of heaven in a gold covered chariot with white horses…but He didn’t do it that way. Why? The reason God did it this way instead of with a lot of fanfare, is because He doesn’t want you to follow Him out of fear… He wants you to follow Him out of love!
And so, the only way that you can find God is to become humble yourself. See, proud people who want to rationalize their actions, who are too arrogant to admit that they’ve sinned and need a Savior… will never find Him! God is humble, and only humble people need apply! In fact, the bible says that “God opposes the proud… but gives grace to the humble.” (Ps.138:6; I Peter 5:5) See, the humble are willing to share in the shame of the stable… but the proud won’t even come near it. The birth of Jesus teaches us that the humble will be the 1st to hear the voice of God. The humble will inherit the kingdom of God. So…if you want to know God this morning, (there’s no way around it)…you’re going to have to humble yourself! You’re going to have to admit you’ve messed up, that you’ve wasted your life with your own selfish pursuits… that you need God and without Him you’re lost! You need to stop acting like you’ve got it all together and realize…you don’t! That’s what I had to do. And that’s what every true follower of Christ has to do. We have to meet Him in the stable!
In conclusion, I want to show you a video this morning that illustrates in a humorous way how we all play a part in the drama of the stable that night… (Show “The Living Nativity”)
If you think about it, we’re all in a living nativity, we’re all actors standing around the manger…
• Some of us are like Mary… we’re in a tough situation and can’t seem to change it.
• Some are like Joseph…we’re protective of our families and want the best for them…
• Some of us are like the innkeeper… too busy, no room.
• Some of us like the other inhabitants of inn… bystanders who miss the significance of the birth happening right below them.
But when we realize the reality of Jesus’ birth and what it meant for God to send His only Son to die for us… it hits us, and we want the salvation He offers! When Jesus was born in that smelly stable it symbolized how someday He would humble Himself again… but this time on a cross… bearing the stench and the filth of our sin! Think about it.
Let me ask you… is providence working in your life this morning? Listen, if God could orchestrate the details of the entire Roman Empire… to bring about Christ’s birth… isn’t it possible that He could bring together the details of your life for this moment? Isn’t it possible (that whether you realize it or not) that God is involved (right now!!!) in guiding you here today to hear this message, just so you could gain eternal life? He loves you enough to do that!
Will you make Him your Lord and Savior this Christmas? It was all done for you! So you could know Him and spent eternity with Him.
