OPEN: A Sunday School put on their own impromptu Christmas pageant. The teachers read the story and provided some props; then they stood back and let the kids dramatize the story on own.
One girl grabbed the doll and said, “I’ll be Mary.” A boy shouted, “I’ll be Joseph,” Some of them put on bathrobes and said, “We’ll be the shepherds” Everyone was either a lamb, or a wise man, or an angel… or something.
But one little girl had no part, so she said, “I’ll be the doctor who delivers the baby Jesus.”
So they all took their places. Mary had a pillow under her shirt as Joseph led her before the mean innkeeper who sent them away. And when the time came the “doctor” took the doll from Mary’s pillow she held it up. Joseph, wanting to act like a new papa said, “What is it, doc?”
The little doctor smiled and said “Why it’s a…God.”
APPLY: Now that’s cute. A little girl holds up a Baby Jesus doll and she makes a declaration that - this is God. And that’s apparently what the prophet Isaiah did. When Matthew wrote “this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’)” Matthew was quoting Isaiah.
In Isaiah 7:14 we read (where this quote came from) “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
So about 700 years before Jesus was born Isaiah held up a SIGN, and that sign said there would be a baby born of a virgin and He would be Immauel – “God with us”
And Matthew wasn’t the only one who saw that sign that Isaiah talked about. Angels saw it too. “The angel said to (the shepherds), ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And THIS WILL BE A SIGN FOR YOU: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’” Luke 2:10-12
The angel basically held up a sign… and said: look at the baby. When you see that baby you’ll be looking at the Savior, Christ the Lord.
Of course, the question is what was it - about this virgin giving birth in a manger - that was the sign that we needed to see? This sign is obviously important. God said it was a sign. The angels said it was a sign. So, what was it that made this sign so important to us?
Well, first The Virgin was part of the sign. Just to drive this point home when the angel tells Mary she’d about to have a child, we’re told that “Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’” Luke 1:34
She’d never been intimate with a man… but now she’s going to be pregnant.
ILLUS: Now, I remember taking biology in school, and I’m pretty sure, that’s not supposed to happen!
But it did happen… this time. And it happened because God MADE it happen. And it happened because God SAID He was going to make it happen.
Way back in the book of Genesis, we find Satan has tempted Eve with the fruit. And God tells Satan: I will put enmity (or hatred) between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he (the son of the woman) shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Genesis 3:15
Note, God told Satan that the offspring of the woman was going to bruise his head - that is, this Child of a woman was going to give Satan a mortal wound from which he’d never recover.
Now, why would God say this was going to be “the offspring of a woman?” Usually it takes 2 (male and female) to have an offspring. But not this time. This time THIS birth is only going to be the offspring of a WOMAN.
When the angel appeared to Joseph he said: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 1:20
God – the Father – was going to be the papa. It was hinted at wayyyy back in Genesis. It was hinted at wayyy back in the book of Isaiah. And now… it was boldly declared in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
This VIRGIN was going to give birth to a child conceived through the Holy Spirit. Mary was told by the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy — the Son of God.” Luke 1:35
But… why? Why would God do it this way?
Why have this child be born of a MORTAL woman and an IMMORTAL God?
Well, this is way - the Bible teaches us that we’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It also teaches us that the wages of sin is death. Sin had to be paid for, so throughout the Old Testament God’s people were taught that a flawless sacrifice was needed to pay price for their sins. The Law called for repeated animal sacrifices. But everybody knew the blood of animals really didn’t fix the problem. What was needed was a perfect SOMEONE who would willingly die for our sins. But no mortal man could be found that was sinless enough to die in our place.
In Isaiah 59 we’re told: “(God) saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.” Isaiah 59:16-17
Only God could be perfect, sinless and pure enough to be our perfect sacrifice.
But there was a problem. By definition… an IMMORTAL God can’t die. God could NOT become our sacrifice… because a sacrifice has to die. He would have to become human in order to die. So God decided from the days of Adam and Eve that He would personally pay the price for sins. And (of course) that meant, He had to become mortal.
That’s why Philippians 2 says: “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:6-8
That’s why the rest of the SIGN mentioned in Isaiah is that “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) And what does IMMANUEL mean??? (GOD WITH US) in that one word God declared that this child was God in the flesh.
Now, that’s such an important doctrine that you’d think it would be obvious all Christian leaders would accept it, wouldn’t you? But back in 1961 Redbook (a woman’s magazine) hired one of the top pollsters in the nation to survey students at seminaries which were supposedly preparing for Christian service in Protestant churches. They found that fully 56% of these denominational students rejected the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
ILLUS: When I went to Bible College I was bit shocked by the idea that not all churches believed as we did. I thought “that can’t be right.” And so I took a survey of preachers back in the 1970s in my home town. I interviewed Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists and even Mormons and Jehovah Witness leaders (any group that had a religious meetings in the area) and asked them a number of questions about what they believed about the Bible and about Jesus. I was shocked when I discovered that half of those folks did not believe they could trust their Bible and that 25% of them rejected the virgin birth of Christ.
ILLUS: One of the preachers in our brotherhood told of the time when his dad was preaching in Joliet, Illinois. There was a woman and her children began attending church. They’d been attending a large, denominational church in town and they said that the youth minister in that church had strongly stated the Virgin Birth was a myth in the Christian legend and never really happened. That youth minister stated that it was a pointless "miracle" with no basis other than wish fulfillment and oral tradition.
The woman was offended so she went to the senior minister to complain. But the senior minister in that denominational church also believed that heresy. When he saw how much it bothered her, he asked, "Why does this matter to you so much, anyway?" And she replied, "Because the Bible teaches it!" (Jim Nichols “The Restoration Herald” December 2009)
Now her answer was entirely correct. If the Bible teaches something we need to believe it (even if we can’t understand it). But I’m rarely satisfied with simply knowing what God says. I kind of like to find out “why” He says what says. I’ve always been a little like the young child that always asks “why?”. I’m told I can get annoying because of that.
I accept that this idea of the Virgin Birth was important to God… I just like to understand WHY it’s important. And WHY is it important? Because it was the SIGN God gave us OF WHO this Jesus was. As Isaiah said: “The Lord himself will give you a SIGN. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The Virgin Birth pointed to the fact that Jesus was God in the flesh.
This is why Christmas is really a valuable tool for us. I mean… yeah, Jesus probably wasn’t born on December 25th. And yeah… there are preachers that grow tired of preaching Christmas sermons year after year. BUT you the birth of Christ of the virgin was the SIGN of who Jesus was.
And it’s a great evangelistic tool. About 3 years ago Pew Research did a survey of Americans’ attitudes toward Christmas and they found…
1) About and nearly all Christians (9 out of 10) in America said they celebrated Christmas.
2) Surprisingly, a big majority non-Christians in U.S. (81%) also celebrated Christmas. That included 87% of people with no religion and even about three-quarters of Asian-American Buddhists and Hindus.
3) Among Americans overall, about ½ said they celebrated Christmas as religious holiday
4) Americans largely believe that elements of the traditional Christmas story reflect actual historical events. More than seven-in-ten (73%) say that Jesus was born to a virgin and 81% believe he was laid in a manger. And similar shares say that wise men, guided by a star, brought Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (75%) and that an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus (74%). Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults (65%) believe that all four of these things actually happened, while 14% say none of them happened. (Michael Lipkal, "5 facts about Christmas in America," Pew Research, 12-21-15)
Now why would Americans believe these things? Well, because it’s been like a drumbeat in our society. Over and over again, they’ve heard the story and listened to the carols as they proclaim the story of the time when God became a man. And that’s why - those who oppose Christianity – have opposed any public display of the nativity scene. Even THEY know how important this story is to the Gospel of Christ.
CLOSE: But the story of the baby Jesus only makes a true difference in our lives when you really find Him.
I want to close with the true story of a preacher named Kevin once told the story about his family’s nativity scene. It was from the Holy Land and was made of olive wood. One year when his son was 3 or so, his son LOST the baby Jesus. The preacher said his son Kyle would carry the baby Jesus everywhere. They would find Jesus with the action figures or sometimes in a pocket of his clothes. But this time, for several days, the family looked everywhere, but to no avail. They asked Kyle, but he didn’t know where he had put it.
The preacher said that his wife Georgia searched frantically for the figure. She’d even telling people, “Yeah, we lost Jesus.” “We can’t find Jesus at our house.” “Kevin (preacher) doesn’t know where to find Jesus.”
But they eventually DID find Jesus. Kevin and his son Kyle were playing on the living room floor and Kyle tilted his head and looked under the couch. “Look, there’s Jesus! Under the couch!”
And sure enough, there it was. He had a broken arm, but we were able to fix it with a little glue. Kevin says that he often reminds himself of the story, because it reminds him of the true meaning of Christmas. “You have really got to look to FIND Jesus and sometimes you have to get down on your knees to see him!”
INVITATION
