THE CHRISTMAS STORY: GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS
A. Did everybody have a good THANKSGIVING?
1. Now since THANKSGIVING is OVER, it’s time to GET READY FOR CHRISTMAS.
a. But the reality is, the STORES have been getting ready for Christmas since the first of October.
COMMENT:
You could have bought a Halloween Costume and a Christmas Tree on the very same day. You just WALK a few ISLES past the WITCHES and VAMPIRES and there’s SANTA CLAUSE and his REINDEER.
b. By the time December 25th gets here, many already have their fill of Christmas MUSIC, Christmas MOVIES, Christmas COMMERCIALS, Christmas SHOPPING.
2. There are so many distractions this time of year that take us away from the true meaning of Christmas.
a. The COMMERCIAL SIDE of Christmas just takes its TOLL on many of us.
COMMENT:
The weeks leading up to Christmas become so HECTIC in trying to get everything done from SHOPPING for everyone on your list, DECORATING your house, BAKING the Christmas cookies, GOING to all the PARTIES and GET-TOGETHERS you feel obligated to attend, CLEANING the house for family who will be coming over, ATTENDING all the Christmas functions and programs at church, PREPARING the Christmas dinner, and on and on it goes.
b. Having weeks and weeks of Christmas often DESENSITIZES us to the WONDER of almighty God coming to this earth in the form of tiny, helpless BABY.
B. It is the SPIRITUAL SIDE of Christmas that is most IMPORTANT, and often gets LOST in the HUSTLE
and BUSTLE of the HOLIDAY.
1. For the next few weeks, we will be looking at different aspects of THE CHRISTMAS STORY from
the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
a. Today we start at the beginning when an ANGEL named Gabriel was sent by God to a TEENAGE
GIRL named Mary who lived in the small insignificant village of Nazareth- Luke 1:30-33 (READ).
COMMENT:
At first Mary PROTESTED because, although she was ENGAGED to be married, she had not
been with a man—she was a VIRGIN.
But Gabriel told her that “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God”- Luke 1:35.
Humbly, Mary consented, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to be as you have said”- v. 38.
b. “Gabriel also told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth was with child in her OLD AGE”- Luke 1:36.
COMMENT:
Two MIRACLES! A VIRGIN and an ELDERLY WOMAN, both expecting a BABY. But as the Angel Gabriel said, “Nothing is impossible with God”- Luke 1:37.
Mary will give birth to Jesus, the Son of God, and Elizabeth will give birth also to a son who will be known as John the Baptist, the one who was sent by God to INTRODUCE His Son to the Jews as the Promised Messiah who will SAVE the WORLD.
2. I want us to pick up the story where Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth in Luke 1:39-45 (READ)
a. Can you imagine an UNBORN BABY leaping with JOY in his mother’s WOMB at the news that
Jesus, the Son of God, was coming?
COMMENT:
Last Sunday evening during our Night of Worship, there was a lot of REJOICING and CLAPPING and LEAPING going on as we were WORSHIPPING Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
b. Here’s baby John in his mother’s WOMB having a PRE-NATAL worship service just Praising God.
3. Mary’s VISIT with Elizabeth prompted her to SING a Song of Praise to God, known as “The Magnificat” a Latin word for “GLORIFIES”, as she GETS READY for the Christ Child to be BORN-
Luke 1:46-55 (READ)
COMMENT:
What can we learn from Mary’s Song that PREPARES our HEARTS as we GET READY FOR CHRISTMAS?
MESSAGE:
I. WE ARE TO APPROACH CHRISTMAS WITH “JOY”
A. Mary sang, “My soul glorified the Lord and my spirit REJOICES with God my Savior…”.
1. Here’s a teenage girl who, undoubtedly, was OVERWHELMED by the news that she received from
the Angel of the Lord.
a. From all the women in Judea, God chose her to give birth to His Son.
b. And Mary’s visit with her cousin Elizabeth put everything in greater perspective.
COMMENT:
When Elizabeth said to her, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear”, I am sure that it all began to SINK in that she was going to be the MOTHER of God in the flesh.
2. What started out as APPREHENSION and ANXIETY, is now an exuberant JOY that God found
FAVOR in her, and that the CHILD she will bear will be the SAVIOR of the WORLD.
COMMENT:
The JOY that Mary felt is the same JOY that Elizabeth’s UNBORN BABY experienced when “he leaped in his mother’s womb.” It’s the same JOY that a chorus of Angels SANG about NINE months later at the BIRTH of Jesus when they appeared to the Shepherds tending their sheep and said, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people”- Luke 2:10.
B. Did you notice what the angels said?
1. The same JOY that Mary experienced will be “for ALL the people.”
a. Tell that to the people who were SHOVING and PUSHING and YELLING at each other on
BLACK FRIDAY trying to get that SPECIAL DEAL on SALE.
b. Tell that to the TEENAGER on Christmas morning who asked his grandparents for the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare video game, but instead . . . got a used Looney Tunes Duck Amuck.
c. Or . . . tell that to the FAMILY overwhelmed with GRIEF and SORROW because this is the first Christmas without their LOVED ONE that passed away this year.
2. Christmas brings “great JOY for ALL the people”, not because of THINGS, CIRCUMSTANCES, FRIENDS & FAMILY, PARTIES, HOLIDAYS, and GIFTS under the TREE.
a. True Christmas JOY comes only through God’s Christmas GIFT—His Son Jesus.
COMMENT:
The BIRTH of Jesus, God coming into this WORLD in the form of a human being, is a FAITH-EXPERIENCE that enables us to see beyond the TRAGEDIES and HARDSHIPS and PROBLEMS of life.
It enables us to see beyond the STUFF and THINGS and other ENTRAPMENTS that the WORLD tells us brings JOY.
Jesus is our JOY. His BIRTH, His LIFE, His DEATH, His RESURRECTION—is the “GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY” that the Angel HERALDED in the HILLS of Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.
b. As you GET READY for Christmas, don’t let ANYTHING or ANYONE deplete your JOY.
II. WE ARE TO APPROACH CHRISTMAS WITH “HUMILITY”
A. As Mary continues her song, she PRAISES God for “Him being mindful of the humble state of His
servant”- v. 48.
1. The HUMILITY of Mary is not because she came from a POOR FAMILY and is engaged to a POOR
CARPENTER. You can be POOR and PRIDEFUL.
COMMENT:
In today’s CLIMATE there are many people who take PRIDE in the FACT that they were brought up in a POOR ENVIRONMENT. There are people RUNNING for PRESIDENT who CAMPAIGN on that FACT, and others APOLOGIZE for coming from WELL-TO-DO families.
2. The HUMILITY of Mary is seen in her WILLINGNESS to be used by God to bring His Son into
the WORLD.
a. Again, she humbly told Gabriel, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
b. She could have REFUSED—God would never FORCE anyone to BEAR His Son.
COMMENT:
But she is HUMBLED by the fact that God chose her, and HUMBLY accepts His invitation to be Mother of the Messiah.
3. This same HUMILITY seen in the MOTHER, was evident in the SON.
a. Not only did Mary HUMBLE herself to give BIRTH to God’s Son, Jesus HUMBLED Himself to become HUMAN in the form of a tiny helpless BABY- Phil. 2:5-11 (READ & COMMENT)
b. James 4:10- “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
COMMENT:
Mary humbled herself before God, and “from now on all generations will call her blessed.”
(And so we are, even 2,000 year later.)
Jesus humbled Himself, and “God exalted Him to the highest place, and He will be praised and worship by every living being.” (Yes, even by those who HATE Christmas, and say Jesus is NOT the Son of God.)
B. But how about us?
1. Sadly, the Christmas HOLIDAY often brings out SELFISHNESS in a lot of people.
a. We call this the SEASON of GIVING, but for some it is the SEASON of “GIVE ME”.
COMMENT:
“Give me THIS!” “Give me THAT!” “Why did you give me THIS and not give me THAT?”
b. We should be GRATEFUL and HUMBLE that God GAVE us the GREATEST GIFT of all— ETERNAL LIFE through His Son Jesus.
2. As we PREPARE for Christmas and EVERY DAY after that, let’s do so with HUMILITY and GRATITUDE for what God did and is doing for YOU and ME and all of MANKIND.
III. WE ARE TO APPROACH CHRISTMAS WITH “HOPE”
A. From verses 50 on, Mary’s Song is all about what God is doing through her, the MOTHER of His Son,
to bring ETERNAL HOPE to Israel—the descendants of Abraham—and to us as “Abraham’s
ADOPTED Children”- Galatians 3:29.
1. Mary knew the PROMISE of God that had been PASSED down from generation to generation that
One would be BORN of the seed of Abraham who would come to SAVE the people from their SINS.
a. Like everyone else in Judea, she put her HOPE in that PROMISE and looked forward to the
coming of the Messiah.
b. But now she realized that among all the women who had ever LIVED, she was the one CHOSEN by God to be the MOTHER of the CHILD that would bring HOPE to the WORLD.
2. However, as she SINGS this song, she couldn’t possibly have understood that the HOPE that was
PROMISED would come only through the DEATH of her BOY.
a. Fast-forward 33 years and we see Mary standing silently at the foot of the CROSS.
COMMENT:
She stands there uttering not a word as she watches her FIRST-BORN Son writhe in AGONY. She remembers the words of Gabriel that day long ago when he promised “that Jesus would take
the THRONE of David and reign over Israel forever.”
What she was looking at now was a FAR CRY from the “THRONE” that Gabriel had promised her Son—all she could see was a CROSS. Surely the THORNS embedded in Jesus HEAD wasn’t the CROWN that was PROMISED.
b. When she saw her Son take His last BREATH, she may have WONDERED how the SONG of HOPE that she sang to God when she was just a TEENAGER even makes since anymore.
c. But then three days later early that Sunday morning her Son—God’s Son—ROSE victoriously from the GRAVE.
B. Jesus was BORN to DIE so that we, through His DEATH for our SINS and His RESURRECTION from
the DEAD, can have HOPE of ETERNAL LIFE. CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT HOPE!
CONCLUSION:
A. To illustrate how the Christmas story touches the human heart, consider the following story that was told as an actual event.
ILLUSTRATION:
In 1994, two Americans answered an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics (based on biblical principles) in the public schools. They were invited to teach at prisons, businesses, the fire and police departments and a large orphanage. About 100 boys and girls who had been abandoned, abused, and left in the care of a government-run program were in the orphanage. They relate the following story in their own words:
“It was nearing the holiday season, 1994, time for our orphans to hear, for the first time, the traditional story of Christmas. We told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger.
“Throughout the story, the children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word. Completing the story, we gave the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger. Each child was given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins I had brought with me. No colored paper was available in the city.
“Following instructions, the children tore the paper and carefully laid strips in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn-out nightgown an American lady was throwing away as she left Russia, were used for the baby's blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt we had brought from the United States. The orphans were busy assembling their manger as I walked among them to see if they needed any help.
“All went well until I got to one table where little Misha sat. He looked to be about 6-years-old and had finished his project. As I looked at the little boy's manger, I was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly, I called for the translator to ask the lad why there were two babies in the manger. Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at this completed manger scene, the child began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christmas Story once, he related the happenings accurately—until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger.
“Then Misha started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending to the story as he said, ‘And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so I don't have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with Him. But I told him I couldn’t, because I didn’t have a gift to give Him like everybody else did.
‘But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, “If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?” And Jesus told me, “If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.” So, I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him---for always.’”
“As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed. The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon nor abuse him, someone who would stay with him—FOR ALWAYS. I’ve learned that it’s not what you have in your life, but who you have in your life that counts.”
HOW ARE YOU GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS?
