Do You See What I See?
Chuck Sligh
December 13, 2020
A 3-slide PowerPoint presentation of this short message is available by emailing me at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Luke 1
INTRODUCTION
Each of us sees different things when we think of Christmas.
• Mention the word Christmas to most children and the vision that comes to their minds is a jolly old man in a red suit who delivers toys with a small herd of flying reindeer.
• Say Christmas to most of us adults and several pictures are likely to form in our minds:
• Some think of lights and decorations lining city streets. (“City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style / In the air there’s a feeling of Christmas.”)
• Others think of bell-ringing Salvation Army Santas seeking donations.
• Some think of Christmas trees decked with beautiful lights and ornaments.
• To many people, the favorite thought that comes to their minds is a picture of large stadiums filled with fans watching large, husky, helmeted men crack one another’s skulls, chasing an oval-shaped, inflated pig-skin.
• And to some, sadly, Christmas conjures up images of wild parties, drunkenness, and “good times” that are really BAD times of sin and seduction and shame.
When I think of Christmas, I see the story given to us in the Bible about the birth of Jesus. There’s a popular Christmas song, titled, “Do You See What I See?” As we think about the Lord’s birthday, do you see what I see? What is that?…
I. FIRST, I SEE A MOTHER
Look with me at some verses in Luke 1:
• Verses 26-28 – “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”
• Verses 46-48 – “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”
When I think of Christmas, I cannot help but see Mary, the mother of Jesus. Consider two things about her:
1) First, she was a SIMPLE woman.
She didn’t come from royalty, or even a wealthy merchantman’s home. All indications are that she was a simple peasant woman.
God OFTEN uses ordinary people to accomplish His great purposes.
• God used a shy, stuttering SHEEP-HERDER named MOSES to lead the Israelites out of slavery to the door of the Promised Land.
• He used a simple SHEPHERD BOY named DAVID to fell a mighty giant and later to lead a nation to victory and glory.
• God used a simple, uneducated PROPHET by the name of AMOS to deliver a thunderous message from God to Israel.
• He used simple, ordinary MEN who came from all walks of life to bring the Gospel to the world, including fishermen and tax collectors.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 – “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.”
So it was with Mary. God chose a simple, ordinary vessel to bring glory to Himself. That means He can use you too! (EXPAND AS LED.)
2) She may have been a simple woman, but she was also a SURRENDERED woman.
In Luke 1:30-38 the angel appears to Mary and informs her that she has been chosen to bring the Messiah into the world. Look at her response in verse 38 – “ And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.…”
This was momentous news to Mary. But note that Mary didn’t say, “Let me pray about this, and I’ll get back with you about it.” Once she understood what GOD wanted, she IMMEDIATELY surrendered to God’s will for her life.
God help us to be completely surrendered to God in every area of our lives so that God’s will can be done through us just as it was in Mary’s life.
II. THE SECOND THING I SEE WHEN IN THE CHRISTMAS STORY IS A MANGER
Look with me over in Luke 2 at two verses:
• Verse 7 – “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”
• Verse 12 – “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
In both of these verses we’re told that Jesus was laid in a manger. To me, that’s amazing! A manger was A FEEDING TROUGH for domesticated animals like sheep and cattle.
The humble circumstances of Jesus’ birth is one of the most remarkable things in the Christmas story. Think of it…
• The King of glory was not placed in a beautiful, ornate cradle befitting a king, but in an animal trough.
• Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was not clothed in the fine, extravagant garments of nobility, but in simple everyday swaddling clothes such as any other baby in a peasant home would be wrapped in in Palestine.
• Jesus’ earthly parents were not royalty; they were a simple carpenter’s family—a working man’s home.
2 Corinthians 8:9 says “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”
This is the wonderful truth of the incarnation. The Bible teaches that Jesus was God. But God the Son gave up His heavenly glory and emptied Himself and became a helpless baby born to a poor family, probably in some stable or a cave where animals were kept.
A KING born in a STABLE—what an extraordinary contrast! But this was only the beginning of a life of startling contrasts. An unknown author wrote:
Jesus Christ was born in the meanest of circumstances, but the air above was filled with the hallelujahs of the heavenly host. His lodging was a cattle pen, but a star drew distinguished visitants from afar to do Him homage.
His birth was contrary to the laws of life; His death was contrary to the laws of death! No miracle is so inexplicable as His life and teachings. He had no wheat fields or fisheries, but he could spread a table for 5,000 and have bread and fishes to spare.
Three years He preached His Gospel. He wrote no book, built no church, had no money back of Him. After 2,000 years, He is the one central character of human history, the perpetual theme of all preaching, the pivot around which the events of the age revolve, the only regenerator of the human race.
Was it merely human blood that spilled on Calvary’s hill for the redemption of sinners, and which has worked such wonders in men and nations through the centuries? What thinking person can keep from exclaiming, “My Lord and my God!”
III. THIRD, WHEN I THINK OF CHRISTMAS, I SEE A MERCHANT
Luke 2:7 tells us that the reason Jesus was placed in an animal feeding trough was because “there was no room for them in the inn,” so they apparently had no other place to go except to some stable or cave where animals were kept. The Bible actually really never mentions an innkeeper, but it’s not unreasonable to assume that there was one was one since the Bible says “there was no room for them in the inn.” If so, the merchantman innkeeper represents the idea of crowding out Jesus from our lives.
For many of us also, there’s no room for Jesus because our hearts are too full of other things.
• Too full of THE WORLD’S PLEASURES to find room for Jesus.
• Too full of DAILY ACTIVITY to find room for Christ.
• Too full of SIN to find room for the Savior.
• Too full of PRIDE for the King of kings.
There’s a song from a cantata I sang in several years ago that fits here titled simply “No Room” that goes like this (SING OR READ):
No room for the King of kings.
Room for others and for other things.
No room for Jesus in the world He made…No room.
Room for houses, lands and pleasures,
Room for things that pass away.
But for the One who reigns forever,
There’s no room today.
How strangely prophetic the merchant’s rejection was of the reception Jesus would have the rest of His life in the world as the Savior of mankind. John 1:10-11 says “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”
May those of you who have never done so, receive the Lord Jesus Christ today. Make room for Him.
Let Him come in and save you and change you.
May we who are already in Christ through faith in Him find room for Jesus in our DAILY LIVES, in our PRIORITIES, and in our ACTIVITIES.
IV. FOURTH, WHEN I THINK OF CHRISTMAS, I SEE A MYSTERY – Matthew 1:23 – “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
The greatest “mystery of history” is why the Son of God would humble Himself and become a human like us. Look at what the end of the verse we just read says: “they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us”
The key word in this verse is the preposition “with.” He is God “with” us!…
• Not only God OVER us—as would be fitting, since He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and the Ruler of the universe.
• Not only God FOR us, as the gracious Lord who abundantly gives us His grace.
• No only God IN us, which is what God becomes when He saves us.
• But God WITH us—ONE of us; God who gave up the glorious palaces of heaven…who sacrificed the privileges that come with being very God…who dwelt amongst uswho lived as we live…who ate as we eat…who spoke with a human tongue as we do…who was tempted as we are tempted (yet, unlike us, without sin)who suffered as we suffer…WHO DIED AS WE DIE!
OH, WHAT A WONDERFUL SAVIOR!
For centuries, people have speculated why God had to become a man. Why couldn’t He just provide salvation some other way? Why did Jesus have to come in the flesh? Listen to this little story:
Once upon a time, there was a man who looked upon Christmas as a lot of humbug. He wasn’t a Scrooge. He was a very kind and decent person, generous to his family, upright in all his dealings with other men. But he didn’t believe all that stuff about an incarnation which churches proclaim at Christmas. And he was too honest to pretend that he did. “I am truly sorry to distress you.” he told his wife, who was a faithful Christian. “But I simply cannot understand this claim that God became man. man. It doesn’t mike any sense to me.”
On Christmas Eve, his wife and children went to church for the midnight service. He declined an invitation to accompany them.
“I’d feel like a hypocrite,” he explained. “I’d much rather stay at home. But I’ll wait up for you.”
Shortly after his family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window and watched the flurries getting heavier and heavier.
If we must have Christmas, he reflected, it’s nice to have a white one.
He went back to his chair by the fireside and began to read his newspaper. A few minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound. It was quickly followed by another, then another. He thought that someone must be throwing snowballs at his window.
When he went to the front door to investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They had been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter had tried to fly through his window.
I can’t let those poor creatures lie there and freeze, he thought, but how can I help them?
Then he remembered the barn where the children’s pony was stabled. It would provide a warm shelter. He quickly put on his coat and galoshes and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on the light.
But the birds didn’t come in.
Food will bring them in, he thought. So he hurried back to the house for bread crumbs, which he sprinkled on the snow to make a trail into the barn. To his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow.
He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around and waving his arms. They scattered in every direction…except into the warm, lighted barn.
If only I could be a bird myself for a few minutes, perhaps I could lead them to safety, he thought.
Just at that moment the church bells began to ring. He stood silently for awhile, listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. Then he sank to his knees in the snow.
“Now I understand,” he whispered. “Now I see why you had to do it.”
The mystery of history is that Jesus—out of love for us—left the glories of heaven to come to earth and save us and bring us in out of the cold of sin and into the warm shelter of salvation and forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
V. FINALLY, WHEN I THINK OF CHRISTMAS, I SEE A MISSION – Matthew 1:21 – “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”
The moment Jesus was born, He had a mission. His coming to earth was much more profound than simply to be ONE of us. It was much more important than that. He not only came to be like us, but to do something FOR us.
What did He come to do FOR us? What was His mission?—His mission was to save us from our sins.
This life mission is mentioned repeatedly in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments:
• It was represented in the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament.
• It is symbolized in the furniture and the activities of the Tabernacle and the Temple.
• This mission was foretold in many Old Testament prophecies.
• It was seen in Christ’s given name—“Jesus,” which means “Savior.”
• This theme of the ages was announced to the shepherds in Luke 2:11 – “For unto you is born this day in the city of David [A WHAT?…] a SAVIOR, who is Christ the Lord.”
• It was proclaimed by John The Baptist when Jesus began His public ministry – John 1:29 – “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
• Jesus told a man named Nicodemus about what His mission was on this earth: John 3:16-17 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
• In Luke 19:10, Jesus clearly outlined His purpose on earth when He said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
• Even in His last dying moments, in the midst of His awful suffering and agony on the cross, He took time out to display that purpose by saving the thief on the cross!
• Paul reiterated Christ’s mission on earth when he wrote Timothy and said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy 1:15)
• The Apostle John, who wrote the Gospel of John, the letter of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and the Revelation, echoes the same driving theme in his first letter, 1 John, chapter 4, verse 13: “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”
Jesus’s had one, all-consuming mission in life—to save sinners.
CONCLUSION
Today on Christmas morn, do you see what I see?
I see a MOTHER surrendered to God; a MANGER that reminds us that Christ became poor that we might become spiritually rich; a MERCHANT who did not have room for the Savior; a MYSTERY—that God would come to be WITH us; a MISSION—to save us from our sins.
Let me zero in and ask you a few questions to bring this home to us today:
1) If you’ve never trusted in Jesus to save you from your sins, you need to turn from your sin and your own good works and come to Jesus and trust in Him as your Savior.
Jesus came to save you from your sins and give you a relationship with Him. Don’t be like the merchant who turned Jesus away. Find room for him in your heart. Surrender to God in your life, just as Mary did.
2) If you’re already a believer in Jesus Christ, let me ask you a few questions:
• First, what area in your life is not like Mary—that is, fully surrendered to God’s will? Are YOU surrendered to God in your thought life?—in your faithfulness to God?—in how you live your life?—in how you treat people?—in your work dealings and home relationships? Like Mary, God wants us to be completely surrendered to and obedient to Him.
• Second, have you allowed stuff, and activity, and even good things to crowd Jesus out of your life so that you have no room for the King of kings and Lord of Lords? Today—on Christmas Day—is a wonderful time to put Jesus back on the throne of your life again. Don’t just find a little more room for Him. Make Him the CENTER again of your being—your Ruler, your Master, your Boss, your Commander-in-Chief.
• One more thing: Jesus came on a mission—to save the lost from their sin. Is bringing the lost to Christ who can save them from their sins even on your radar screen? God help us all to be daily witnessing, sharing our faith, leading the lost to the Savior.
