“The Four M’s Of Christmas”
Luke 1 and 2
David P. Nolte
This is a blessed time of year. Excitement fills the air, a sense of nostalgia pervades our minds, and there is a warmth in our hearts.
But let me tell you about a single mother who didn't see Christmas like that. It was 1960. Her abusive husband left her with 6 children ranging from 3 months to 7 years. She had 75 cents in her pocket, a worn out 51 Chevy and no income. After hours of job searching, she was hired at a truck-stop restaurant. She got the 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift. She made 65 cents/hour and tips and she paid $1.00/night to a high school girl who slept on her couch to care for the children. The tires on her car were so thin she had to air them up to get to, and from, work every day. Christmas was coming and she had no money to buy any gifts for her children, so she did her best to repair and restore some of their old toys to wrap as gifts. Clothing was patched and re-patched and her heart was breaking. Hers was a dark time. She prayed for a miracle and she desperately needed help.
For mankind, it was a story of poverty and despair and darkness. God knew how mankind needed help and how hard things were. He met that need through a miracle, a mother, a manger and a message. Consider those 4 "M's" of Christmas this morning.
I. A MIRACLE:
A. The conception of Jesus Christ was not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Gabriel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name Him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His ancestor David. And He will reign over Israel forever; His Kingdom will never end!” Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and He will be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:30-35 (NLT2).
B. It was nothing short of a miracle.
1. It was essential that Jesus be God to make atonement, and that He become man to identify with our situation.
2. He is thus God in man and man in Whom the fulness of God dwelt.
C. He began His days in the flesh in a miraculous manner. But His entire life among men was miraculous:
1. He performed miraculous deeds: He raised the dead, healed the sick, cast out demons, walked on water, fed the 5,000.
2. He lived a miraculous life: He was sinless perfection embodied.
3. He died a miraculous death: No one forcefully took His life. John 10:18 records His own statement, "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."
4. He achieved a miraculous resurrection: Romans 1:4 assures us that He "was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, ..."
5. He miraculously ascended into heaven.
D. But for those who believe in Him, the greatest miracle is that:
1. He forgives all our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
2. He makes us to be new creatures, the old having passed away.
3. He brings us into the family of God as His born-again Children.
4. He gives us the gift of eternal life.
The poor mother with a shot Chevy, no money, 6 kids and a low paying job needed a miracle. She needed help and she needed it badly. So did mankind. To meet man's need, God sent a miracle. And He chose to do that through Mary, who became:
II. A MOTHER:
A. Here we have a simple, unsophisticated young girl who found favor in God's eyes. She was not perfect, but God found in her characteristics that gave her favor in His eyes. So, what made Mary acceptable for this divide purpose?
1. She was morally pure. She was a virgin.
2. She was humble: She called herself the "bondslave of the Lord."
3. She was obedient: She said, "Be it done to me according to your word."
4. She was courageous: She was willing to face public censure, family abandonment, the termination of her betrothal, and perhaps even stoning for becoming pregnant out of wedlock.
5. She had faith: She believed the Angel's message and carried out God's purpose.
B. Stop to think about this young mother. The angel called her "Favored one!" Her cousin, Elizabeth, called her "Blessed among women!" But think of the anguish this mother would endure!
C. H. King Oehmig said, "It is hard for us to understand how 'favored' or 'blessed' Mary was. How 'blessed' could it have been for her to be pregnant, with no human father to share the blame, in a community which regarded promiscuity in utter distaste? How 'favored' could she have been to have a son whom her hometown folk later regarded as having 'gone out of his mind (Mark 3:21)? How 'fortunate' would it have been to watch her son be repudiated by the Jerusalem leadership as a blasphemer, and then watch him die, inch by terrible inch, on the gibbet?" Yet here was a girl who said, "yes" to God's will! So may we!
D. If God were looking for a special person for a special reason, would He be able to say to any of us, "Hail, favored one!"? Are you of the same character as Mary? Would you, like she, faithfully, trustingly, submit?
God performed a miracle, through a mother, and it came to pass in:
III. A MANGER:
A. The angel said to the shepherds, “The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Luke 2:11-12 (NLT2)
1. Let's disown the fairy-tale image of a sweet-smelling, pleasantly lit, warm, snug, roomy place as we often see it in the pictures with pinkish mist and halos surrounding the main characters.
2. This was a cattle feeding trough. Can you imagine laying your newborn into hay mixed with donkey slobber?
3. The odor was pungent with urine, cattle dung and rotting hay.
4. Instead of gentle, caring nurses, flies probably swarmed around in droves, and mice hid in the shadows.
5. Far from being commodious accommodations, the place was jammed with the donkeys of travelers who had filled the inn.
B. Why? What's the meaning of this? Why the manger? It was for the poor, the broken, the single mothers with a beat up Chevy and the weight of the world on their shoulders.
1. Paul wrote, 2 Corinthians 8:9 "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich."
2. Hebrews 2:17 says, "Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."
C. He came to the manger to identify with the lowly and humble and to sit in the seat of the outcast and forgotten.
D. In Jerusalem, the high and mighty were unaware that a Miracle was taking place in a manger just 6 miles to the south-east. They were so involved with their own agendas that they were oblivious to the arrival of God in that stable. The King of heaven was not born in a palace, but as the Lamb of God He came to a manger.
A miracle, a mother, a manger all work together to bring us:
IV. A MESSAGE:
A. And what a message it was! Hear it again from the lips of the angel: “Don’t be afraid! I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” Luke 2:10-14 (NLT2)
1. It is a message of fear not.
2. It is a message of Good News.
3. It is a message of great joy:
4. It is a message of benefit to all people: rich, poor, young old, wise, foolish, learned, ignorant.
5. It is a message of salvation.
6. It is a message of Glory to God.
7. It is a message of Peace on earth.
B. The message can be summed up in these terms:
1. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
2. Romans 5:1 "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,"
3. Revelation 22:17 "And the Spirit and the bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost"'
C. God has sent His Living Word, Jesus Christ, to be His ultimate, paramount and supreme message of love, mercy, help and salvation!
D. Greater than the news that Jonas Salk had discovered an antibody to Polio; than that WWII was over; than a cure for cancer would be, is the message of hope Jesus brings from God.
The young mother, alone and struggling, needed some word of hope. She needed help. When her shift ended on Christmas morning, she went to her battered old Chevy. It was still dark and she couldn't see clearly, but something was in her car. She opened the door cautiously to discover boxes of clothing, fruit, food for her cupboards and toys for the children. A caring co-worker had told her plight to some of the regular customers and they pitched in to help. Her miracle had come, and with it a message of love, help and friendship.
God has done even more for you and me. He performed a miracle through a mother in a manger to deliver His message of hope. He didn't have to choose the lowly, but He did. He didn't have to leave heaven's glory, but He did. He didn't have to come to save us, but He did. He didn't have to suffer injustice, poverty, and rejection, but He did. He didn't have to give His life on the cross, but He did.
What a benefactor! What a friend! He who came so lowly then, comes to you in Majesty today. He who gave His hands to the nails, now gives His hand to you in friendship. Will you take His hand? (Story adapted from a Church newsletter)
