Jesus: the Gift of Christmas
-Great to see all of you hear this morning for our Christmas Celebration. I love Christmas.
-Christmas is a time that holds special meaning for all of us.
-For some Christmas is a time of reunion; your get to see family that you don’t normally see.
-For others Christmas is a time of creating new memories; watching little kids grin from ear to ear with their new toy.
-For some, Christmas is a lonely time of year that highlights things that are wrong with their life…not everyone loves Christmas.
-As an adult, Christmas isn’t as magical as when we were kids.
-Even looking back on family Christmases gone by I realize that it wasn’t as magical as it may have seemed.
-It was mostly good times but sprinkled with some family drama, an occasional swear word, and some borderline drunk relatives.
-But on Christmas morning my grandma, who survived the Great Depression, made sure that there were so many presents we couldn’t walk through the living room.
-But before we’d tear open all those presents we had to make the occasion more spiritual by reading the Christmas story.
-And for the most part everyone paused to remember the true meaning of Christmas which is Jesus.
-Everyone listened to the familiar tale except Great Uncle Fred.
-He was the one family member who was a mystery to me as a kid
-On the Christian side of my family he was the only one who didn’t go to church.
-Uncle Fred was kind of a ne’er-do-well. He never really held a job.
-He chain smoked and watched ESPN like it was his job.
-I never remember touching a present until we’d read the story of Jesus, but I never remember Uncle Fred listening to the story.
-And once that story was told, we kids assaulted the presents.
-You can think what you want about materialism at Christmas, but the birth of Jesus; Christmas time is about gifts.
-Think about what we’ve learned so far in this Holy Days series.
THE STOCKING STUFFERS
-THERE WERE A WHOLE SERIES OF GIFTS LEADING UP TO CHRIST’S BIRTH:
ZECHARIAH’S ANGELIC VISITATION.
-Zechariah the priest was chosen for the once in a lifetime opportunity to enter the most Holy Place.
-He got to see the holy of holies where the presence of God resided. That was a gift that very few people ever received.
-And then he had a visit from the mighty angel Gabriel. A gift!
-This righteous man, a humble priest was the first person to hear from God in over 400 years! That was also a gift!
ELIZABETH’S MIRACULOUS PREGNANCY.
-Elizabeth was an elderly woman who’d never had children of her own. He neighbors suspected she was under some kind of curse.
-But suddenly, and miraculously, she was with child. And her baby would be John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. What a gift!
MARY’S MIRACULOUS PREGNANCY.
-A teenage girl named who was average in every apparent way, was chosen to become the mother of God.
-Out of all women on earth she was chosen to give birth to the Savior of the World!
-She would know that the child growing inside her was God in the flesh. The baby that she bore would become the light of salvation for the entire world. What a gift!
JOSEPH THE STEPDAD OF JESUS!
-Even Joseph, the silent carpenter got a gift!
-When God decided to send his only son to earth, and he needed an earthly stepdad for Jesus…Joseph was chosen. A gift!
-But those gifts are nothing compared to the gift of Jesus Christ!
-Those amazing gifts were like stocking stuffers compared to what Jesus has given us.
-Stocking stuffers are like warm up presents.
-For probably 10 years my favorite stocking stuffer from my mom was a can of easy cheese. It’s my backup plan for eternal life!
-I usually get presents that are better than that, but that was my favorite stocking stuffer…until I became concerned about cholesterol and heart disease; now I get dried cranberries.
-But everyone in the Christmas story knew that their gifts, were stocking stuffers, warm ups, preparation for the real thing.
Zechariah first saw his baby boy he said God is about “…to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” Lk 1:79
-Zechariah new God was gearing up for something big!
Elizabeth said to Mary ““Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!”
-She knew that there was something more coming!
Mary knew about the gift, because the angel told her, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” (Lk 1:31-32)
-All of the buildup, all of the gifts, the angelic visits, were just announcements that something even better was coming.
-And don’t forget the gravity of these announcements.
-God’s people had waited 400 years for the moment to arrive, for the silence to be broken, for the gift to come…
-For some kind of sign that God had not forgotten them.
-And not only did God speak…he sent heralds to announce that the Messiah Jesus Christ was coming!
-Here’s how the story of the gift unfolds…or unwraps
UNWRAPPING THE GIFT
Luke 2:1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
-This is an important detail because MICAH 5:2 PREDICTED THAT THE MESSIAH WOULD BE BORN IN BETHLEHEM, but Joseph lived in Nazareth.
-But God knew about this Roman census ahead of time, and foresaw that Christ would be born in Bethlehem…vs 5 says…
5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
-So Joseph went down to Hertz and rented a donkey and maybe a cart and he headed to Bethlehem. Can you imagine?
-Typically women who are 9 months pregnant don’t make long journeys…on donkeys!
-In fact, they aren’t really allowed to make long journeys on air planes in the modern age.
-And donkeys don’t have reclining seats, inflight movies, or snacks
-And what people forget is that she was due. Like…“any moment there’s going to be a baby” kind of due.
-She had to be uncomfortable, Joseph had to be nervous.
-When the angel had appeared to them and told them what was coming, they probably didn’t imagine it this way in their minds.
-No one really plans to have a baby away from home on the road, in a strange town. And yet, here they are.
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 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 room for them in the inn.
-We really don’t know the details surrounding the manger.
-All the motels were apparently full… should’ve used Travelocity.
-The only shelter they could find was in a barn/cave where animals were probably kept.
-It wasn’t cute. It wasn’t clean. It’s wasn’t like the Christmas cards we send to each other. There was nothing golden.
-There was dirt, manure, there were animals, there were smells..
-There wasn’t boiling water, or nurses, or pain killers.
-And baby Jesus didn’t come out any easier than any other baby, this was God’s gift to the world, but it wasn’t the kind that you picture on Christmas morning.
-Later when the little boy Jesus would leave the front door open, Mary would say, “were you born in a barn?” Yes. Actually I was.
-I imagine Mary holding that baby for the first time. Seeing that little baby boy, holding him in her arms and knowing…
-This is the gift, the Savior that the world has been waiting for.
-Every parent believes their kids are special, but Mary knew it.
-That poor young couple must have been wiped out.
-But this is where the celebration of Christmas begins.
-Because after you’ve endured childbirth you want to have a bunch of visitors! Right ladies!
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” -Shepherds were the lowest of the low in the ancient world.
-No one consulted them, no one visited them, no one included them in anything important.
-They camped out with the sheep. They lived out in the wilderness
-And yet, the only people that God announced the birth of Jesus to…were those lowly Shepherds.
-And it wasn’t a telegram. Read with me…
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
-A sky-full of angels suddenly showed up. It must have scared those shepherds half to death!
-Seeing an angel was terrifying, now there are 100s, glowing, other worldly creatures, singing. And they sang “Glory to God”.
-And as suddenly as they had appeared, they were gone.
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
-Forget the sheep, I want to see the miracle child.
-I want to see the Christ! The one we’ve been waiting for!
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
-Can you imagine a bunch of random men walking into the delivery room?
-It’d be like a crew of construction workers walking into the delivery room. But they wanted to see God’s gift!
-This next part is my favorite part, and one of the most important parts of the Christmas story.
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
-THE VERY FIRST PEOPLE TO SEE THE GIFT OF GOD SHARED IT.
-They shared it with anyone who would listen. They told the Good News about Jesus.
-And more than anything we could give people at Christmas, we must give people the gift of Jesus Christ.
-There is nothing more that they need than Jesus.
-There is nothing more relevant to their lives than Jesus.
-There is nothing that blesses people more than the gift of Jesus
Someone once said: "If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior." Max Lucado
-The story of Jesus birth is heartwarming. It’s inspiring.
-But he was born for a reason. He came on a mission.
-He was born to die. To give his life as a gift for us.
-To die for our sins. To take our place, our punishment.
-His death, not his birth was the greatest gift of all.
-Think about all that Christ died to give us.
WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT THIS GIFT?
-The Shepherds were told that the birth of Jesus would include the gift of joy!
-Joy is the ability to be happy in spite of circumstances…because you know you have something better.
-The angels said “peace on earth.” Jesus came to make peace.
-Zechariah predicted the gifts of salvation and forgiveness.
-Romans 6:23 says the “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
-John 4:10-13 also calls eternal life the “gift of God”
-2 Corinthians 9:15 says “Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!”
-Hebrews 6:4 calls it the “heavenly gift”
1 Peter 3:7 says that Christ brings us the “gracious gift of life!”
-We have been given so much through Jesus Christ.
-It’s all there…for us…for free. Just like in that video we watched, Jesus paid for us to have a fresh start. A new beginning.
-He wants to take who we are today and make us into someone better…newer…recreated in his image.
-And the gift of Jesus is here for the taking. Anyone can have it.
-Have you ever given someone a Christmas gift and they wouldn’t accept it? That’s almost unheard of.
-They might trade it in for something else, or re-gift it…but turn it down? No one really does that.
-But people turn down the gift of God all the time.
-They refuse his offer for salvation.
-They turn away from it, ignore it, and reject it. They don’t want it.
-There’s no present you’ve ever received that measures up to the gift of God.
-Nothing you desire in this life even compares.
-And no gift deserves more gratitude than the gift of Jesus Christ.
-And to refuse the gift of God leads to tragic consequences.
-Refusing Christ’s gift means your sins aren’t dealt with.
-Turning down the Greatest Christmas gift means walking away from eternal life. And ultimately walking away from salvation.
-It’s not just missing out on some feel good experience.
-It’s choosing the path of destruction.
-Our whole family worried for Great Uncle Fred.
-We knew that he’d heard the story, he’d heard the prayers, and he’d been talked to about Jesus.
-But he hadn’t received the gift of God’s only Son.
-And year after year that gift was presented to him, but he left unopened. I grew up, went away to college.
-And one day I got a call from my family that Uncle Fred had died.
-He’d been battling brain cancer.
-But as he lay in bed struggling to hang on to life, the story he’d heard so many times before came was told to him again.
-The promise of God’s One and Only Son, the stories about his birth and life and death were remembered.
-And before he went to face his Maker, he opened the gift.
-That stubborn old man finally opened his heart and surrendered his life, to Jesus Christ.
-He lived his whole life as a rebellious sinner, but died as a Son of God. And it happened simply because he accepted the gift.
Eph 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
-And it’s a gift for you.
