SERMON OUTLINE:
A Birth!
A Boy!
A Prince!
A King!
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• If you have just gotten into the Christmas spirit;
• Let me apologise because I want you to turn your mind back to the summer.
• To a certain date July 22nd;
• And to a certain time 4.24pm.
• For the BBC it was the biggest global news day ever;
• With 19.4 million viewers to their website.
• From all over the globe they logged on to watch live-coverage of this event.
• Outside Buckingham Palace and outside St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London;
• Crowds had queued for hours in the hope of seeing…well I’m not quite sure what?
• And in this age of technology;
• I love the fact that to the side of the front gate's,
• Behind the iron railings of Buckingham Palace.
• Somebody pinned a piece of paper to a wooden easel!
• The paper was of course palace notepaper and contained this message:
• Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son,
• At 4.24pm today.
Now to celebrate the birth of this:
• 8 pounds 6 ounce baby boy;
• Who would a few days later be named of Prince George of Cambridge.
• ill: The next day after the baby was born Britain’s biggest selling newspaper The Sun;
• Changed its name or the spelling of its name from SUN to SON!
• ill: Even the left-wing, semi-republican Guardian newspaper;
• Covered their front page with this head-line: “A Birth! A Boy! A Prince! A King!”
• Now when looking for inspiration for my Christmas Carols by Candlelight Sermon;
• I thought the Guardians headline would be spot on: “A Birth! A Boy! A Prince! A King!”
• So let’s look at those four descriptions:
(1). A Birth!
Quote: Luke chapter 2 verse 7:
“and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them”.
Ill:
• As of April 2012, almost 2,000 babies are born every day in the UK.
• This means 80 babies are born every hour.
• On average, it is estimated:
• That there are approximately 130 million babies born throughout the world each year,
• According to the CIA Factbook,
• The number of babies that are born worldwide by estimate are about 247 per minute.
• The population of the world is estimated at around 7 billion people;
• The population of the world at the time of Christ was estimated at about 200 million.
• We don’t know how many babies were born that year;
• But at a guess it was…a very large amount!
• Yet this one baby born 2000 years ago in a Palestinian town has dominated history!!!
• And even split time in two B.C. and A.D.
Ill:
• In 1859 a scientific expedition;
• Passed through the Grand Canyon in America.
• A lieutenant recorded these events in a journal and he made this entry in his report:
“This region…is…altogether valueless. It can be approached only from the south, and after leaving it, there is nothing to do but leave it…shall be forever unvisited and undisturbed”
• Today the Grand Canyon is one of the most visited places in the USA!
• TRANSITION: A birth, quite unremarkable in many ways.
• Unlike Prince George of Cambridge in every way!
• Yet today that unexceptional birth will be celebrated all over the world!
Ill:
• Prince George of Cambridge was delivered at the Lindo wing,
• St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London.
• It is the most exclusive and best of private health care.
• A basic normal birth will cost you five-thousand pounds.
• A caesarean birth with cost you six and a half thousand pounds.
• But if you want to upgrade that you pay an extra nine hundred for superior treatment,
• One thousand one hundred pounds extra for de-lux treatment.
• And the prices for a suite are only available on request.
• And you will not be surprised to know that William and Kate took a suite,
• They also had the best of the royal gynaecologists;
• They had an expert team of mid-wives and nurses;
• And the latest and best medical equipment that money can buy!
Notice: By contrast Luke chapter 2 verse 7 tells us:
“…She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them”.
• So instead of a private hospital with blacked out windows for privacy;
• Mary gives birth in a stable, a cattle shed, a barn.
Ill:
• In the Midlands where I grew up;
• If anyone ever left a room and in doing so forgot to close the door;
• Allowing the cold to come into a warm room,
• Someone would always shout; “Shut that door! Were you born in a barn?”
• Well, this baby was!
• And instead of a team of expert gynaecologists, midwives and nurses;
• Mary had the services of a nervous husband to help deliver the baby,
• And a few animals to moo, nah or bleat sounds of encouragement.
• Instead of the best designer baby clothes that money can buy;
• This baby was wrapped in strips of cloth.
• Instead of brand new cot;
• This baby was laid in a feeding trough!
Quote: G.K. Chesterton:
“Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.”
A Boy!
• Quote: Luke chapter 2 verse 7:
• “and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son..”
Ill:
Eight (Humorous) Differences Between Men and Women
• (1). A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
• A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
• (2). A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
• A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
• (3). To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot & love him a little.
• To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot & not try to understand her at all.
• (4). Any married man should forget his mistakes;
• There's no use in two people remembering the same thing.
• (5). Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.
• Women somehow deteriorate during the night.
• (6). A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.
• A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change & she does.
• (7). A woman has the last word in any argument.
• Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.
• (8). There are 2 times when a man doesn't understand a woman;
• Before marriage & after marriage.
• Back to the text: Quote: Luke chapter 2 verse 7:
• “and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son…”
Note: In Bible times sons were very important:
(a).
• Sons carried on the family name;
• This was very important for Jewish people;
• Because they believed you lived on through your prodigy.
(b).
• Sons also helped out in the work place.
• They could like Jesus follow the father’s trade and become ‘bread winners’.
(c).
• Sons also provided muscle in any conflict situations.
• If you had a disagreement between two families,
• One family has ten sons and the other only three;
• You can guess who is going to get the best of any argument!
(d).
• For the mother having a son meant a name change!
• Rather every Jewish mother had her name adjusted.
• This is not just another description but very much a Jewish tradition.
• i.e. No longer will Mary be just Mary, from now on she is ‘Mary the mother of Jesus’
• i.e. Elizabeth her cousin when she becomes pregnant is no longer called Elisabeth,
• She is ‘Elisabeth the mother of John’.
• Many other examples of this in the Biblical record.
• When you had a son you found a new status and this was reflected in that description.
• This name adjustment was not just another depiction but very much a Jewish tradition.
• Showing the importance of having a son.
• And always named after the firstborn son who ‘opened her womb’ brought that title.
(f).
• Having a son also had a religious significance;
• According to the Talmud – important Jewish writings;
• (The Talmud contains the teachings and opinions of thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects)
• The Messiah would not come until quote:
• “Until all souls stored up for earthly life have been born” end quote!
• So the Jews were dead keen to have as many children as possible;
• To speed up the day when the Messiah would come.
Ill:
• Another Jewish tradition says that when a baby boy was born:
• The father would hold the baby up to heaven and pray; “Lord is this the one?”
• Every father hoped his child would be the promised Messiah!
• TRANSITION: For Joseph that prayer was fulfilled;
• His boy was indeed the Christ/Messiah, the chosen one of Israel.
• He was and is the Son of God!
Ill:
• He was born Marion Mitchell Morrison (May 26, 1907);
• He was better known by his stage name John Wayne.
• John Wayne was an American film actor, director and producer.
• An Academy Award-winner,
• In a career spanning fifty years;
• Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades.
• An enduring American icon, he epitomized rugged masculinity;
• And is famous for his demeanour, including his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height.
• He was however not always the ‘sharpest knife in the draw’:
• On one occasion he was playing a Roman Centurion;
• In fact the Roman Centurion who oversaw the crucifixion of Jesus;
• In the film, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’.
• He only had about a dozen words to say in the whole of the film,
• But they did include the climactic important line, ‘Truly, this was the Son of God.’
• Story has it that the director was not thrilled;
• With the way his words drawled out through his thick American accent,
• And he pleaded with John Wayne to, ‘Put some awe into it, John.’
• John Wayne was not the brightest of actors, and as they did the retake of the scene,
• He went, ‘Awe truly, this man was the Son of God.’
• TRANSITION: This boy was indeed the Christ/Messiah, the chosen one of Israel.
• He was and is the Son of God!
Quote Johnny Bond ('One Solitary Life'):
• "He was born in an obscure village,
• A child of a peasant woman.
• He grew up in still another village;
• where He worked in a carpenters shop until He was thirty.
• Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher,
• He never wrote a book, never held an office,
• Never had a family or owned a house.
• He didn't go to college, He never visited a big city,
• He never travelled 200 miles from the place where He was born.
• He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness.
• He had no credentials but Himself.
• He was only thirty-three years old when the tide of public opinion turned against Him.
• His friends ran away.
• He was turned over to His enemies,
• He went through the mockery of a trial,
• He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.
• And while he was dying His executioners gambled for His clothes.
• The only property He had on this earth.
• When he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
• Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind's progress.
• All the armies that ever marched,
• All the navies that ever sailed,
• All the parliaments that ever sat,
• And all the kings that ever reined,
• Put together have not affected the life of man on this earth;
• As much as the one solitary life".
• TRANSITION: This boy was indeed the Christ/Messiah, the chosen one of Israel.
• He was and is the Son of God!
A Prince!
Ill:
• Joke about the princess who was sat by a pond;
• When her attention was drawn to a frog.
• She was feeling quite low and sad;
• Then she remembered the nursery stories of frogs turning into princes.
• So she picked the frog up in her hands and gently kissed it;
• To her amazement the frog turned into a beautiful prince.
• The princess was beaming and said to the prince; “Will you marry me?”
• He replied: “Me a royal prince – marry a woman who goes round kissing frogs, Forget it!”
Jesus was and is called by Isaiah the prophet (chapter 9 verse 6):
• 'The Prince of peace'.
• He is the 'peaceful prince'.
• The word 'prince' is elsewhere translated as 'commander';
• One who has the authority & power to execute his will.
Ill:
• I might have the desire to stop speeding motorists zooming down my road.
• But I do not have the power. I can never enforce my desires.
• If I was a policeman, the story would be different,
• I can enforce my will on the offender, by the power of my calling.
• But the 'prince of peace' or the 'commander';
• Is one who has the authority and power to execute his will.
The world in which we live defines peace as an absence of conflict or war.
• The Bible defines it differently;
• The Hebrew word for peace is ‘Shalom’;
• And means: ‘Harmony, wholeness, well-being and success.’
• Qualities that Jesus Christ promised to give those who were committed to him!
Ill:
• Harmony – ‘We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’.
• Wholeness – ‘Happy are those whose sins forgiven.’
• Well-being – Contentment ‘Godliness & contentment are great gain’.
• Success – ill: wise & foolish builders.
• ‘Shalom’ - ‘Harmony, wholeness, well-being and success.’
• Are qualities that Jesus Christ promised to give those who were committed to him!
For hundreds of years the Jewish people waited, and waited and waited:
• For generations,
• The people have anxiously waited for the child of royal descent to be born:
• Devout Jews searched the scriptures for clues about him.
• Fathers taught their children to watch out for him.
• Mothers have peered into the eyes of their new-borns,
• Wondering whether their child might be the one.
• And now God, in his wisdom is saying; ‘enough waiting’,
• The promised Messiah is born and they were to call him Jesus.
A King!
• It was the Magi from the east who entered into Jerusalem;
• And in Matthew’s gospel (chapter 2 verses 1-2) we are told their first question:
• ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?’
• We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’
Note:
• If you had lived 2,000 years ago, and if you encountered Jesus:
• Either as a baby, boy or man,
• There would have been nothing to mark him out as being different,
• From the other Jewish babies, boys or men of his day.
Ill:
• Many of our Christmas cards or great works of art;
• May picture Jesus with a hallow around his head, or as someone quite distinct,
• But in truth he would have looked exactly the same,
• As any other Jewish baby, boy or man from that region of Galilee.
ill:
• When Jesus reached manhood:
• Even his cousin John the Baptist (John chapter 1 verses 33-34)
• Failed to recognise him without God sending “the Spirit like a dove to land on him”.
• There was nothing that would have marked Jesus out as being a King:
• But that is of course who he was and is,
• "King of Kings & Lord of Lords".
Ill:
• Joshua Bell emerged from the Metro (subway train station);
• And positioned himself against a wall beside a waste bin.
• By most measures, he was nondescript:
• A youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a baseball cap.
• From a small case, he removed a violin.
• Placing the open case at his feet, with a few coins placed in as seed money;
• He began to play.
• For the next 45 minutes, in the D.C. Metro on January 12, 2007,
• Bell played Mozart and Schubert as over 1,000 people streamed by,
• Most hardly taking notice.
• If they had paid attention,
• They might have recognized the young man for the world-renowned violinist he is.
• They also might have noted the violin he played;
• It was a rare Stradivarius worth over $3 million.
• Just three days earlier, Joshua Bell sold out Boston Symphony Hall,
• With ordinary seats going for $100.
• In the subway, Bell reaped about $32;
• From the 27 people who stopped long enough to give a donation.
• TRANSITION: That story was an experimental project;
• Organised by The Washington Post newspaper.
• Jesus was the king;
• But he went unrecognised for the majority of his life.
Ill:
• Let me go back to my royal baby connection;
• Baby George of Cambridge and the new born Jesus of Bethlehem.
• Imagine that later in prince George’s life;
• Someone in the royal family needed an organ transplant;
• And he was the only one close enough with the appropriate DNA to match.
• Well it the recipient of the organ was his father, mother or close family member;
• Maybe, just maybe this scenario might be allowed to take place.
• The story is not too far-fetched in its outworking.
• Now imagine again:
• That the person needing the organ transplant;
• Was not a close member of the Winsor family, but some obscure German cousin.
• I guess we know what the outcome would be – forget it!
• Or let’s broaden it further;
• Imagine the transplant was needed by someone in this room!
• Would the future king be willing to help – again we know the answer – no chance!
• You would need a very, very good imagination;
• If we ever thought that the heir to the throne would be willing to give a kidney,
• To save one of his subjects like you or me.
• Verse 10 and 11 of Luke chapter 2;
• Remind us that this king is a saviour and saviour of the world!
Ill:
• DVD song: How Many Kings by SPIRIT 105.3 FM Live
• YouTube: http://youtu.be/WTYe9sWYKdo
Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe after all we’ve projected
A child in a manger
Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliness hero, wrapped in his mother’s shawl
Just a child
Is this who we’ve waited for?
Cause how many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Bringing our gifts for the newborn savior
All that we have whether costly or meek
Because we believe
Gold for his honor and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he’ll suffer
Do you believe, is this who we’ve waited for?
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/d/downher... ]
It’s who we’ve waited for
How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me
All for me
All for you
All for me
All for you
How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me
All for me
All for you
• TRANSITION: Now you would need a very, very good imagination;
• If we ever thought that the heir to the throne would be willing to give his life;,
• To save one of his subjects like you or me.
• But one did!
• Mark chapter 10 verse 45 (ESV):
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Ill:
Death of people does affect us.
• i.e. if my father had died when he was a child;
• I would not have been born and my children would not have been born etc.
• His death would have affected our family.
• i.e. Why are politicians and world leaders assassinated?
• Because there death affects a nation(s) future, sometimes world history.
• TRANSITION: If a normal persons death can change history;
• Then the death of the eternal Son of God will affect all eternity!
In conclusion:
• Now I will be honest;
• I paid very little if any attention at all to the royal birth in the summer time.
• I did not watch it on the internet or TV,
• I did not even watch any news items concerning it,
• To me it was not relevant, it was not meaningful to my life.
• And it is only in preparing this talk that I have discovered a link to those events;
• And they have caught my attention for a few days.
Question:
• Have you realised that this baby of Bethlehem;
• The man hanging on a cross one Friday afternoon, two thousand years ago;
• Actually involves you!
• And your response to this man will effect not just the here and now – i.e. this life;
• But the whole of eternity!
