Introduction
I cannot image anyone on the way to church today turning to their spouse and asking him or her this question. I wonder what the preacher is going to preach about today.
And I cannot image a preacher worth his salt having to think a long time about what he is going to prepare for his sermon today especially when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday.
And just so you know that I am worth my salt, today I am preaching about Christmas. Now there are many different directions I can take a Christmas sermon. I could take a look at the big picture of Christmas. I could tell you about His birth being foretold by the prophets of old. I could tell you about the angel who appeared to Mary to tell her that she will bring birth unto the Christ child. I could tell you about Joseph’s response to news of Mary’s pregnancy. I could tell you about the couple’s journey to Bethlehem, and how when they got to Bethlehem, they could find no room in the inn. I could tell you about the shepherds in the field who heard the angels’ singing and proclaiming the Good News and came to see the newborn King. Those are some of the big pictures of Christmas, I could tell you about.
But I don’t want to focus on the big picture this Christmas morning. I just want to take two verse of the Christmas story and then focus on just six words of those two verses and see what it tells us. I believe sometimes, if we always are getting the big picture, we may neglect the small details of Christmas. And they are just as powerful as the big picture.
So, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Luke 2:11-12
Scripture
Luke 2:11–12 NKJV
11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
Point #1
A sign had to be given because neither the shepherds in the field nor the folks in the town of Bethlehem were expecting a Savior.
vs. 12 And this will be the sign
Think with me for a moment. If some very important person came to our town you would not need any signs to know where he is, you would simply follow the crowds.
The fact that the angels said look for the sign reveals to us how totally unprepared the shepherds were for a Savior coming to town despite the prophet Micah telling the Jewish nation that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem.
The fact that the innkeeper did not have any room for this most important person to stay tells me that he was unprepared for a Savior coming to town. An innkeeper would love the publicity that the Savior of the world stayed in my inn. If he knew that this was a very important being born this day, he would have made room even if he had to ask some guess to leave. But he just didn’t know.
And then there are people of Bethlehem sleeping in their homes while the Savior is being born in a stable. The fact, they are remaining sleeping in their homes and making no effort to head to the stable tells me that they were not ready for a Savior to be born.
Do you know what worries me? This Jesus is going to come again not as a Savior but as a Judge, and just like the people were not ready when He came the first time, I am afraid that people are not going to be ready when He returns again.
POINT #2
As Christians, we should put the birth of Christ in the same category as those most amazing miracles of God that we have read about in the Scriptures.
vs. 12 and this will be the sign
Our language does not do the Greek language justice because this word “sign” has basically two meaning and both meanings are used in this verse. We talked about the first meaning being a sign, a pointer for the shepherds to find the Christ child.
The second meaning is that it is a miraculous event. The angels did not see this as no ordinary birth. Listen to what they say to the shepherds, today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, was born for you. Do you realize that these angels have been with Jesus in heaven since He created them thousands of years ago. Yes, He created them. Colossians tells us all things have been created by him. But one day the angels saw Jesus’ leave heaven to enter the womb of a virgin. Can you imagine the astonishment of the angels? To the angels this was no ordinary birth!
And it should not be an ordinary birth for us. For us it must be on the same level with God parting the Red Sea for the Israelites to walk on dry land. For us it must be on the same level as Jesus coming to His disciples by walking on the water. For us it must be on the same level as Jesus raising Lazarus after he has been in the grave some time. For us It must be on the same level as Jesus rising from the grave on Resurrection morning.
In our world, a woman giving birth is a natural occurrence. But this birth will happen only once in the history of all mankind. It will never happen again. And what makes this birth miraculous is that Jesus left heaven came to earth as a baby, lived like we lived, was found sinless and put to death on the cross to pay the price for our sins but the grave could not hold Him. That’s the Christmas story; that is the Gospel story.
This is no ordinary birth because this is no ordinary child. This is Jesus, the God-man who will die for our sins. Christmas Day is a miracle day.
POINT #3
I want you to notice that we may sometimes miss the signs that God give us because His ways and His thoughts are so much higher than ours.
vs. 12 And this will be the sign for you
How many signs did the angel announce God performed for us to know the Savior is born that day? According to the Word of God, He performed only one signs. This is “the sign.”
Think about it if God chose to perform just one sign what could He have done? The night could have lite up bright as the noon day sun. At Jesus’ death on the cross, didn’t the daylight turn to darkness? Bright like day for His birth, and dark like night for His death! Or the stars of heaven could have reassigned their places by our Heavenly Father, so they spelled out the name of Jesus.
But He did not do the spectacular like that; instead, the sign was “a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And as a result, the Jews missed it, and the world is still missing it. Why? The Jews wanted the spectacular, and people today are still wanting God to do the spectacular.
The Jews were looking for a warrior Messiah who would break the Roman rule that has held them captive. They did not realize that they had a bigger problem than the Roman rule. They had a sin problem and that was way bigger. And so, Jesus coming into this world as a human is the perfect sign that He has come to do something about their biggest problem- their sin.
Sometimes, we ask God to take care of our big problem. The only problem is the big problem you and I see, may not be the same big problem God sees.
Point #4
Christmas is for us.
vs. 12 and this will be the sign to you.
Christmas for not for the angels that were singing out in the fields to the shepherd boys. Christmas was not for just the Jewish people. The Scripture is very plain Christmas for us.
Because of the sign given to us, each person in this room needs to ask themselves, what is Christmas to me?
Let us pray!
