INTRODUCTION:
Christmas time! My favorite time of year.
One of my favorite Christmas stories is “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens.
It’s a story about a greedy, grumpy old man named Scrooge who hated Christmas and everything about it. Scrooge lived for his money, but his money brought him little happiness. Instead, he lived a lonely life of bitterness, with the goal of making those around him half as miserable as he was. He had no love, pity, or compassion for anyone. And with each harsh word and hateful action, Scrooge forged a chain of debt that wrapped around his soul.
You know one of the parts that get to me every time I watch it even though I’ve seen practically every version of every movie made a million times… is when Old Scrooge speaks to the ghost of his old business partner Jacob Marley. Scrooge says to Marley as he tries to justify himself, “But you were always a good man of business, Jacob.” Then Marley’s Ghost cries out making Ebeneezer Scrooge and me jump, “Business! Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business.”
Ebeneezer Scrooge had missed the point of life itself. He thought that life centered around one central figure – himself. And a gold coin became his god for whom he gave up all that was precious and priceless.
You know the story. For Ebeneezer Scrooge to change his ways, he had to be visited by three spirits – The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present, and The Ghost of Christmas’s yet to come. He had to be shown the ugliest and selfishness of his heart. He had to be shown that life does not consist of the accumulation of wealth, but one is wealthy who gives with a cheerful heart. And at the end of the movie (or book) we see a once greedy/grumpy old man become a joyful and generous man full of kindness. A once dark and dreary story ends as a happy one.
I love that story. It’s a story about change. It’s a story about transformation. It’s a story about second chances.
To me, that’s what sums up the Christmas Story. That’s what sums up the reason for God sending us His Son. He sent His Son so that we may see the error of our ways, the ugliness of what we’ve become, and the selfishness we live for without Him. He entered our dark and dreary world full of pain and corruption and became one of us. “The Word Became Flesh and dwelt among us! And we have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” - John 1:14 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” - John 3:16-17
The Christmas Story is about second chances, about change, about the transformation that was made possible because God … gave.
This month we are going to look at that story together. And we going to ask what does it mean to be among those favored by God, to be in God’s favor, and to be changed by the story of Christmas.
BODY:
Please Turn in your Bibles to... Luke chapter 1 and verse 26
[Guzik] Luke’s Gospel is the longest of the four gospels. He documents the story of Jesus all the way from the annunciation of the one who prepared the way of the Messiah (John the Baptist) to Jesus' resurrection and ascension. And it is Luke’s Gospel where we find the most written about Jesus’ birth.
Luke 1:26-27 New International Version (NIV) says…
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
This follows the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth who would be the parents of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. Elizabeth is six months pregnant.
God sends the angel Gabriel to a place called Nazareth. This is the same Gabriel that spoke to the prophet Daniel 550 years earlier foretelling the coming of the Messiah. This is also the same Gabriel that spoke to Zechariah in the temple announcing the birth of John the Baptist. And now the angel appears to a young woman named Mary.
Nazareth was a place with a bad reputation if any. A small village that is not even spoken of in the OT, in the Apocrypha, or in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus. Nazareth may have been in the general region of Galilee, but it was actually located 15 miles away from the Sea of Galilee. In Jesus’ time, it was 6 miles from the closest major road with no good water supply. Only a simple well in the center of the village. The future disciple of Jesus, Nathanael, said this about Nazareth, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
But Jesus would forever be identified with this place, his hometown.
The angel came to a virgin named Mary who was pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. Mary was “betrothed” to Joseph. There were 3 stages to a Jewish wedding in that day. The Engagement, which was a formal agreement made by the fathers of the bride and groom. The Betrothal, which was the ceremony where mutual promises were made by the bride and groom to each other. And the Marriage, which occurred approximately 1 year later, when the bridegroom came for his bride at an unexpected time). While the couple was betrothed, they were under the obligations of faithfulness. In fact, to break the betrothal meant to divorce the one to whom you were promised. This was NOT a casual promise. Not a casual relationship without commitment. It was a serious deal. And being a virgin meant pure, untouched by any man. Only his.
We live in a world where every bride wears white to her wedding. That color used to mean something. It meant you saved yourself for him.
Now, I’d like you to pause here and think about how this applies to us as Christians. Christ came into this world to give you a new life, a life joined to Him. The Church is the Bride of Christ.
The Father sent us His Son so that we might be betrothed to Him through faith… through rebirth… and through the waters of baptism. And one day on a day we do not expect He will return for His bride to take us home to be with Him forever.
Your betrothal to Christ is the day you come to know Him as Lord and Savior, the day you give up your life that is lived for yourself and are joined to Him. Promised to Christ as His disciple, His follower. And just as it was a serious commitment for Mary and Joseph; to follow Jesus Christ is a serious commitment on your part. God does not want casual Christians.
Do you belong to Christ the way Mary belonged to Joseph? Are you only His?
#1- To be changed by the Christmas story one must accept God’s Gift of Grace.
Luke 1:28-30 New International Version (NIV) says…
28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”
That word “favored” means literally to pursue with grace, to honor with blessings.
It comes from the root word charis (where we get the word charity). In the Bible charis is translated grace 130 times and favor only 6 times. God’s favor is God’s grace & mercy.
It means goodwill, the merciful-kindness that God, in His Holy influence, turns us to Christ, keeps us, strengthens us, and pursues us. In other words, God chooses you.
God chooses you. You may not feel worthy of that. You may think, “Why would God want me?” I’ll tell you why. Because God is love. Because God so loved you that He gave. You were on His mind when He sent His Son to this earth when He gave us His Christmas gift.
It was His gift wrapped up for you… to open.
Mary was highly favored because she was chosen by God to bear His Son to the world.
That’s what God wants for you too. God has chosen you for this special task. You are highly favored. And it says that she “found favor with God.” Now, what does that mean?
Found means to come upon after searching, to see, to learn, to discover, to understand.
In life we do a lot of searching, mostly I think for the wrong thing. We are always searching for the thing that will satisfy, that will fulfill us, that will make us happy. And sometimes it takes us losing it all before we find out that Christ is all we ever needed.
Have you found favor with God? Have you found grace and mercy through Christ today?
“With God.” With indicates a nearness to God. Do you know that God wants to be near you? He doesn’t want to be separated from His child. He wants to be known by you and to be in your life today.
In Luke 1:31-33 New International Version (NIV) the Angel Gabriel said to her…
31 “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Several hundred years before this happened the prophet Isaiah wrote these words, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Emmanuel means God with us.
And in Luke 1:32 “will be called the Son of the Most High (Son of God).” In Daniel 7:14 the prophet wrote of the Messiah, “his kingdom will never end.” And in Luke 1:33 “his kingdom will never end.” What the angel said to Mary is almost word for word from the prophecy that foretold the Messiah to come. So Do You think God knows what He’s doing? With all the stuff going on in our world today, all of the junk in the news, in politics, as the nations rage, God is still in control. God is still on His throne and His will … will not fail.
#2- To be changed by the Christmas story one must be born again through the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:34-37 New International Version (NIV) says…
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
I like the way that other translations say that last verse - “For nothing is impossible with God.” Mary asked a logical question. “How can this happen? I’ve never been with a man.”
It wasn’t doubting God’s plan. It was wanting to understand God’s plan. How many of you want to understand God’s will for your life?
The how? The Holy Spirit will come upon you. Literally, overtake you. Like an invasion. How can you be new? How can you have the victory? How can you overcome sin and shame? Through the power of the Holy Spirit! Has God invaded your life? Has His Holy Spirit come upon you, overtaken you? And the Most High will overshadow you. That’s the same thing that happened when Jesus was transfigured and they were enveloped by a cloud of God’s presence or with Moses on the Mountain of God. Powerful, impossible things happen when God’s presence overshadows us, envelopes us, takes over us.
Are you willing to live in the Shadow of the Most High God? You know to be in one’s shadow you usually have to follow them close? And even if you think because of your past or because of your weaknesses that you could never do anything special for God, remember these words. Remember – Nothing… Nothing is Impossible with God!
And Lastly to be changed by the Christmas story one must submit to God.
Luke 1:38 New International Version (NIV) says…
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
The KJV says “handmaiden.” But literally, the word is “bondservant”, slave. It means someone who worships God and submits to Him completely. It describes someone who who gives him/herself wholly to another’s will.
“I am the Lord’s servant. May your word be fulfilled in me.” Is that your prayer?
CONCLUSION:
You know poor Scrooge had to be haunted by three spirits in order to recognize the truth of what he needed to change in his life. But this morning you just to be visited by one spirit, the Holy Spirit. Will you heed His message? Will you be changed by Christmas?
