What To Give Jesus On His Birthday

Honoring the Son

Luke 2:1-20

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

How will you react this year to the portrait of Jesus lying in a manger as given to us in Scripture? For some Christmas is all about spending too much, opening gifts, eating food, and visiting family but nothing more. The mere thought of the Son of God being born to a carpenter’s family and in a stable instead of a king in a royal palace seems utterly absurd to them, after all for them the Bible is really nothing more than the product of a fairy tale or “how to book” on being good. Taking “Christ” out of Christmas is like being at a “football game with no football, a tennis match with no tennis ball, a golf outing with no golf ball or a basketball game with no basketball” … it simply makes no sense! But what even makes less sense is to be a born-again believer and yet under the guise of going to church, reading Scripture, and singing Christmas carols merely pretending to rightly worship our Savior while in practicality hanging a sign on our hearts that says there is no room in the inn for God’s Son! Truthfully, we love the manger scene because within this glorious story for us lies a frail baby who is dependent on us rather than we on Him! The following sermon is going to examine Luke 2:1-20, the birth of Jesus, with the goal of encouraging you to not ignore or give mere platitudes to Christ on His birthday but to honor Him by taking time to meet Him, by trading fear for joy of His righteousness and by spreading the Good News that the Babe lying in the manger is none other than the world’s Redeemer come to save the people from their sins!

Making Time for Jesus (verses 1-7)

This is how the birth of Jesus came about Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world (verse 1). Caesar August, better known as Octavian, ruled from 27 B.C. to B.C. 14. He identified himself as possessing divine characteristics and deified his name and reign with titles such as “Augustus of God, Son of God and savior” who would bring “peace, hope and good news to the world.” Augustus issued a census for military inscription and taxation purposes. While registration did not usually require one to journey to one’s ancestral home Herod may have added this stipulation resulting in Joseph and Mary travelled some ninety miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be registered to pay taxes (the Jews were exempt from military service). Upon their arrival Joseph and Mary soon found out that there were no spare rooms to rent so they had to lodge in a stable and wrap Jesus in swaddling clothes and lie Him in the animal’s trough. While most kings were born in palaces and with great ceremony, the Messiah’s first throne room was of humble circumstances that truly reflected His mission to offer His life a ransom for both the poor and rich alike. “The contrast between the birth’s commonness and the Child’s greatness could not be greater!”

To honor Jesus Christ on His birthday one must first take the time to meet Him! Even through there was a great flurry of activity and a crowd present that was so large that all rooms were rented in Bethlehem, besides the shepherds no one else visited the Babe lying in the manger! While manger scenes often portray the wise men at the manger, they in fact did not arrive until Jesus was about two years of age. This got me thinking about our Christmas calendars. We are often quick to slot time for shopping for presents, buying food, Christmas parties, and friend and family gatherings but how much time do we “slot” to pay homage to our King? Would spending a half hour on Christmas Eve be enough for Jesus to boldly say to us “good and faithful servant”? While it is true that Christ is indivisibly present everywhere and the Spirit lives within our hearts without taking time to be like Mary and ponder His miraculous birth, how has our spirit truly communed with He who bought us at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)? If the wise men were willing to make a journey to meet Jesus that took about two years, surely, we can pencil in and spend the day honoring Christ on His birthday.

Trading Fear for Joy (8-14)

Luke continues telling the story of Jesus’ birth by stating that an angel of the lord appeared to shepherds in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks (8-9). While there were plenty of people around to witness the birth of our Savior ironically it would be the lowest of society the shepherds who got to worship Jesus in the manger! This is remarkable considering that shepherds in Jesus’ day were considered at best persons of low estate and at worst roving vagabonds, thieves, and as such were listed with gamblers and tax collectors who were “despised trades by the Mishnah and Talmud. Even though they were often subjected to suspicion and scorn these social outcasts were chosen to show that Christ’s Gospel message would be offered to all! When the angel appeared to them and the glory of the Lord sinned all around them like all sinners who meet our holy God they were terrified! While it was understandable that the “heavenly authority would make any sinner fearful,” the angel assured them that they and humanity at large had “nothing to fear when God moves in grace!” The Good News is that unto them in the town of David a Savior had been born for all people, the Messiah and Lord (11)! Contrary to the imperial propaganda that tried to deify the name and reign of Augustus, the angel of the Lord and heavenly hosts made it abundantly clear that the true and only Son of God and Savior of the world had been born to give His life a ransom for many! Not even Augustus’ Pax Romana could come close to offering the peace of Christ that forgave based on faith and destroyed the power and fear of death (Hebrews 2:14)! The angel told the shepherds “the sign that all this was true would be them finding a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger” (12). “Suddenly a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the angel and praised God saying glory to God in the highest heaven, and on peace to those whom His favor rests” (13-14)! At this point in the story, I hope you the reader are on the edge of your seat wondering how Mary and the shepherds reacted to the angel’s Good News!