An Ordinary Day - Luke 2:1-20

Introduction

Hilary and I are continually finding ourselves using the phrase “If we can just make it to _____.”

We are consistently in a season of waiting.

If we can just make it to church planting Assessment

If we can just get our core group to Dearborn County

If we can just make it to the new job

And then we get there and we find something else to make it to.

We are a people that are consistently looking toward the next thing.

Anyone done with Christmas shopping?

They’ll be over it by 3PM Christmas Day

I’m continually striving for a checkpoint and then looking for the next destination.

I’m frequently waiting for the Lord to do things.

Waiting on particular events and people

Waiting on days that are to come

Allthewhile, if I’m not careful, I miss what God is doing today or I’m totally caught off guard by it--”Wow! God moved today!”

The Lord is faithful to be at work in the mundane and ordinary.

What may be an ordinary day for us could quite possibly be an extraordinary day for someone else.

Text from Dr. Nate Millican on 11/20/2022

Where I’m taking on the role of the Lord’s secretary, scheduling the Lord to work on particular days

“If I can just make it to _____, I know that God is going to work.”

If I can just make it to Easter 2023, Launch Day, I know that God is going to move.

God is on the move today. 12/18/2022.

God is moving in our lost friends, family members, neighbors lives today

Luke 2 gives us a beautiful image of God working on the just an ordinary day.

A Tale of Two Kings (v. 1-7)

Mary and Joseph were going to do their ancestrial home to be registered in the census

Caesar Augustus and Quirinius are in positions of power.

Augustus was adopted by Julius Caesar

Under Augustus, the Roman republic became the Roman Empire.

Luke’s mention of Augustus conjures up all of the power and glory of the Romans empire and it’s authority.

At the time he was the most powerful man in the world.

King Charles/Vlad Putin

He said things like, “I’ve brought justice and peace to the whole world.” “I found Rome bricks and I made them marble.”

Later he made statements that Julius Caesar was a god and then declared himself to be the son of god.

Many Romans believed him to be the savior of the world.

Augustus was conducting this census to introduce a widespread taxation program and advance military operations.

This would bring Augustus intense pride, wealth, and power

“I want to know where and who the people are and what they’re doing.”

But the Lord made a promise to a little town in Judea.

God was using Augustus to fulfill prophecy in Micah 5:2

Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

Jesus being born in Bethlehem was no coincidence.

God did not call a committee meeting with the Trinity trying to figure out how to get Mary and Jospeh to Bethlehem.

If you look only historically, Jesus was born in Bethlehem simply because of the powerful, imperial decree of Caesar Augustus

But if you look biblically, Caesar Augustus is a tool in the hands of the Lord!

Centuries before Caesar Augustus’ decree, the powerful King of the Universe declared that the Savior would come from Bethlehem.

What the Emperor did not know was that the Sovereign was using him to bring forth the true Son of God and the real Savior of the World.

Joseph and Mary are simply thinking they’re doing their civic duty to the government.

Another ordinary day to them.

But cosmically, God is doing something more on this ordinary day.

Where Augustus was seeking power and glory, the glorious and rightful King of kings was born in a lowly state…In a barn.

Jesus was born in a place that no child should be born, yet the God of the universe is being laid in an animal’s feeding trough.

God’s people are an oppressed people and oppressed people don’t have glory, power, or honor.

This is Jesus’ lifelong testimony.

When the Lord said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head” (Luke 9:58)

This was His life’s story! Down to His birth!

Before His incarnation, the Son of God had more wealth and power than all of the kings of the world combined

This little baby’s Kingdom puts Augusts’ empire to shame.

Yet, Jesus’s life began in a feedbox for donkeys and ended on the cross.

Nothing about the birth of the Messiah King who came from the lineage of David screams “glory,” but in this little barn, God is teaching us something more.

A Tale of Humble Messengers (vv. 8-14)

We get another picture of God working in the ordinary by seeing the shepherds.

The shepherds were chosen by God for their visit because of their lowly status.

Shepherds were near the bottom of the social ladder.

Uneducated, unskilled, and smelled like sheep.

They were dissed by the Pharisees because sheep-tending was a 7 day/week job.

These guys were outcasts and did not fit in anywhere.

Most people would say that these are not the guys that they would call to declare the birth of the Messiah.

You might call the New York Times or another major news outlet.

Not nightshift shepherds.

These are the least likely candidates to receive the announcement of the Savior.

Using these shepherds, God makes crystal clear to what kind of people the good news of Jesus comes.

Lowly, unworthy, outcast.

Jesus was not surrounded by the royal, the rich, or the famous.

He was not welcomed by countries

He was welcomed by lowly farmers.

They would work in shifts, taking turns to keep watch over their flocks to fight off wolves and other predators who may bring harm the sheep.

It was an ordinary night, until angels showed up. (v.9-12)

“Fear not”

FEAR NOT?! This is the scariest night of my entire life! I was watching for wolves, and what did I get?! Angels!

“the glory of the Lord shone around them” (v. 9)

Electricity and street lights had not been invented yet.

I’m a night shift shepherd standing in the middle of the field…and now there’s light at night.

The fulfilment of more prophecy came from the lips of the angels!

Prophecy: Isaiah 9:6-7

Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

It was just any ordinary day. and They had been waiting for the coming of the Messiah.

Mary and Joseph were going to fulfill a civic obligation

The Shepherds were working their normal night shift.

Then it wasn’t an ordinary day anymore.

Here we are…waiting

How many people have you heard try to predict the second coming of Christ?

How many people have you heard say that He’ll be here soon?

“We’re in the signs of the times!”

According to John, we’ve been in the end for two millenium now.Jesus told John in Revelation 22 that He would surely be coming soon.

Yet, here we stand. 2022. Still no return.

It’s been two thousand years. When will I know when He’s coming?

You won’t, until you do.

“To the Lord, a day is a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, but He’s patient toward you” (2 Peter 3:8-9)

Take heart, Jesus isn’t running behind schedule, nor has He forgotten us.

Jesus had this to say about His return:

Matthew 24:36–44 ESV

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

If you know that a thief will be coming to your house tonight at 11:30PM, you will not be asleep at 11:30PM.

I mean, c’mon. We’re in rural Indiana.

You already know the weapon you’re going to use

You’ve already gone through how this is going to go down

Some of you know where your hiding the body.

You make sure you’re prepared when you know when it’s going to go down.

But Jesus said it’s going to happen just like any other day.

How do we better understand this?

Many of you remember September 11, 2001

For many, they woke up that morning and went to work, just like any other day.

Some were eating breakfast

Some were at work/school

Some were on the phone

Some were on a walk

Because it was just another day.

Then it wasn’t.

Where 9/11 was just a normal day to start, we no longer remember it as just an ordinary day.

So it will be with the return of Jesus

It’s going to be just like any other day

Some people will be at work

Some people will be sitting in traffic

Some people will be eating

Some people will be going to a census and some will be watching over their flocks by night.

Then Jesus is going to split the sky, and it won’t be a normal day anymore.

He’ll return, just as He said He would

On the clouds will be rolled back and the Lord will descend from heaven just as he ascended to it.

The expected return of Jesus will happen on a day we don’t expect

Jesus is going to bring the fullness of His Kingdom and restore all things and judge the world.

What do we do while we’re waiting?

1. Bring the good news of great joy (v. 15-18)

Notice the immediate obedience of the Shepherds!

“We must go now!”

When they saw what had been told to them, “they made known what hade been told!”

These guys preached the good news to Mary, Joseph, the cows and donkeys that had been preached to them!

We’re in a time of the Lord’s patience.

He’s being patient toward us, willing us to come to repentance.

This goes for all unbelievers

Friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, grocery store people, BMV workers.

There is not a person who does not need the good news that the Shepherds shared with Mary.

If we truly understood the good news, we would join the shepherds in saying “We must go now!” and preach the good news of great joy!

2. Treasure and glorify the Lord (v. 19-20)

Psalm 16 tells us that in the presence of the Lord there is fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures forever more.

John Piper coins the phrase “Christian Hedonism”

What it means is that we pursue pleasure in God.

We enjoy what we value/treasure.

Scripture commands us to “Delight ourselves in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4)

We were designed by God with the innate desire to pursue happiness.

So when Mary treasures these things, she is looking at this Sovereign little child, delighting herself in Him!

When we come to the Lord in pursuit of absolute satisfaction in Him, the good news is our greatest joy!

3. Wait for the Lord (Matt. 24:44)

We stand in the Already and the Not Yet.

The Already because Jesus has come into the world

He’s accomplished salvation for sinners who would trust in Him, His death, and resurrection.

He’s ushered in the Kingdom of God into the world

He’s already redeeming the world to Himself

The Not Yet because Jesus has not yet returned

He has not yet called us up into His glory

He has not yet brought the Kingdom of Heaven and reconciled it to the earth

He has not yet rid the universe of evil and restored all things to its rightful place: worshipping HIm.

So we wait with joy-filled hearts because the King has come, and with hope-filled hearts because the King is coming.