Christmas 2022 - Sermon 2

As we go through life, we encounter many different announcements. For example, birth, marriage, graduation, death, winners of competition, elections, etc..... With all of these kinds of announcements, there is a certain level of excitement and emotion that follow them (I remember our wedding announcement and most recently our children).

What we have read in scripture today is an announcement unlike any other this world has ever known. Before the known world had heard, only one family had heard. There is no doubt that both Mary and later Joseph were swimming with uncertainty, emotion, fear, surrender, and excitement.

What a privilege we have today to have such a record of the birth announcement of the one a true living Savior Jesus Christ! This is not a hidden announcement, but an announcement that God desires for all to hear and all to receive! It is this announcement that we are going to worship God through today.

1) God’s Sovereign Announcement

A. This was a fulfilling announcement

To understand this, we must go back to the Fall & Abraham.

Gen. 3:14-15 “14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Gen. 12:2-3 “2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

You then go to the promise God made to David’s throne.

Even through the Babylonian captivity God promised His people would enter upon their rebellion toward Him, God alone preserved the pure lineage of David’s throne.

You can see this by reading Matthew chapter 1.

God remained faithful to blessing all the world by the giving of the Christ child.

Think of the song “O Little Town Of Bethlehem”

“....the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”

Jesus’ birth was the announcement of the one who was the center of God’s story!

B. This announcement came to earth

FRIST — let’s notice the Father’s initiative.

SECOND — let’s notice the unlikely location

Nazareth gained the reputation of nothing good was able to come from.

This specific detail of Nazareth does speak to us about the Character of God

Population = 100-400 people

Not mention in the Talmud or by Josephus

Made up of farmers, shepherds and laborers who walked one hour each way to sell their good.

Their homes were probably built within soft limestone caves (least expensive).

Northern half of the country was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire.

Southern half destroyed by the Babylonian Empire.

We see God’s prophetic faithfulness:

Nazareth may come from the Hebrew netzer, which means “branch” or “shoot.” Sometimes when a tree is chopped down, a shoot will grow from the stump, allowing a new tree to spring up where the old one has died. That shoot is called, in Hebrew, a netzer. Why would the people who founded this village have called it “the branch”?

Isaiah 11:1-6 “1 And there shall come forth a rod (shoot) out of the stem (stump) of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, Neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, And reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, And faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, And the leopard shall lie down with the kid; And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.”

Here we read of a promise of hope of the rise of Isreal of which a branch (messiah) would come.

Why was this name chosen for this town?

Maybe to express hope that God would restore Isreal.

Maybe as a sign that there are no hopeless causes with God.

Maybe a way of communicating their hope of a Messiah coming to Isreal.

Little did they know, that Messiah would be a the young child of a carpenter who would grow up in their town.

We should take away some truths from this:

God is looking for the meek and humble to His greatest purposes.

God chooses the least likely to succeed.

God chose a slave people to His own.

1 Cor. 1:27-28 “27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:”

2) Greatness Through Insignificance

By the world’s standard, there was no sign of great significance anywhere in this little city.

Mary was highly favored!

By one woman sin and death was brought into the world, by one woman light and immortality was brought through the birth of Christ.

The family God chose was not by any means considered a family living in greatness.

God could have easily chose some daughter of a rich scribe.

It would be that Jesus’ first advent would come from a family of humiliation; poor, meek and humble.

What kind of home was Jesus entering?

Mary respected herself enough to guard her purity.

She feared God enough to give Him full authority over her body.

She respected the holiness of marriage enough to keep herself for her future husband.

She was someone who in spite of being fearful of the angel’s announcement said in verse 38, “And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”

When you read about Joseph’s first reaction and later his full trust in the angel’s words, you learn Joseph was someone who feared God, respected marriage, loved and honored Mary, and cared about fully following God.

God was showing this family what was important to God when carrying out His sovereign will; USING PEOPLE AND FAMILIES JUST LIKE THEIRS TO ACCOMPLISH GREATNESS.