Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

(Show 49ers Jacket) My most memorable Christmas came during my family’s most difficult time.

1996 was a year of turmoil for the Hale family.

Our home burned down during June.

The next few months were spent trying to figure out wrestling with insurance, bouncing to different living situations, and trying to figure out a solution for the long term.

Everything that a ten year old boy loves was gone: baseball card collection, bicycle, Super Nintendo — even clothes.

All of it was gone.

And, we’re all just making it with what we have and with what others had given us.

That Christmas we were in the rental house that my parents had secured.

And, we were all so excited about Christmas.

Our family always got our big gifts on Christmas morning.

But, I remember that year that my mom and dad came and got us out of bed while it was still Christmas Eve, and they told us that Christmas was starting early that year.

And, we went down the stairs and into the living room, and it was just ocean of gifts.

Some of them were replacements for important things like we had before — like a shotgun I had been given by my grandmother.

Others were new things we’d always wanted — like a Steve Young jersey.

I’ve never been able to get rid of this 49ers jacket because it always makes me think of that Christmas.

God’s Word

The greatest gifts often come in strange packaging, don’t they?

Our most precious gifts often come through the most painful and difficult of circumstances.

The very first Christmas was packaged very strangely.

And, to really understand what’s happening in the text you have to understand the strange way the story is wrapped by Luke.

His main point is the sovereignty of God to bring about the salvation of his people, and I want us to see The Strange Wrapping Paper of God’s Sovereignty: (headline) We’ll see this by seeing the story from three different perspectives.

Caesar did what he “wanted” to do.

Luke 2:1 “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.”

I want to talk about Caesar Augustus the least, but he’s an important layer to the wrapping of this story.

He was biological nephew of Julius Caesar who was surprised to realize that he’d been adopted by his uncle and named his successor upon Julius’ death.

He proved to be the most effective of any Roman leader and became the first true emperor of the Roman Empire — reigning over virtually all of the known world.

This meant that:

He had real “power.”

Ceasar Augustus had the authority to make any decision that pleased him.

He was the absolute ruler over absolutely everything.

Every person was subjected to his plan for the world.

He had real “wealth.”

Caesar Augustus could have literally anything on earth he wanted.

He had enough money to buy it and enough might to take it.

That is, we need to understand that there was no plan of his that would fail because of lack of funding.

He owned the bank.

It was impossible for one of his plans to go unrealized.

He had real “freedom.”

Caesar Augustus could do whatever he wanted to do whenever he wanted to do it, and he was unaccountable for every decision he made.

In fact, this is exactly what had frustrated the Jewish people so much.

They were God’s chosen people, and yet this Gentile, Roman emperor determined exactly how they would live, what taxes they would pay, and how they could carry out their ways of living.

God’s people — and with them God’s promises and plans — appeared subjected to the whims of a pagan emperor.

Caesar reminds us that there are so many decisions that are made for us.

We don’t choose where or to whom we’re born.

We don’t choose whether our children are born with autism or down syndrome.

We don’t choose whether we’re born into affluence or poverty.

It seems like there’s always someone else, someone greater — like Caesar or your abusive dad or maybe even a cruel god — that make the most important decisions regarding the quality of our lives.

From Caesar’s perspective he was advancing the glory of his name and increasing the renown of his reign.

But, this is just the first layer to be unwrapped.

This story is far from finished.

The next layer of wrapping we need to tear through in order to see the real gift is that of Mary.

Like us, a lot of decisions had been nade for Mary.

So, where Caesar did whatever he wanted to do...

Mary did what she “knew” to do.

Mary’s life has gotten really complicated really quickly.

She doesn’t know how all of this is going to work out or what all of the answer are.

So, she just does what she knows to do.

She’s a “faithful citizen.”

Luke 2:4-5 “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.”

There was a sect of Jews during Mary’s time called the Zealots.

You’ll remember that one of Jesus’ disciples was called Simon the Zealot.

And, they believed that they should undermine Rome at every turn, assassinate Roman soldiers and officials, and lead insurrections.

In fact, they believed it was their Biblically warranted duty.

Mary responds in the opposite way.

She’s like most of us.

She honors a dishonorable government that cares nothing for her.

She just does what she’s supposed to do, even though it’s a tremendous inconvenience for her.

She travels 90 miles uphill (almost 1000’ additional above sea level) on the back of a donkey at full-term just to pay her taxes.

Can you imagine riding horseback to Chattanooga nine months pregnant?

Men, can you imagine how many bathroom breaks there were along the way?

But, Mary just does what she knows to do — be a good citizen.

It’s also important that you see that...

She’s a “good mother.”

Luke 2:6-7 “And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

You know what happened after Jesus, the Son of God was born?

His mom and dad took care of him.

I thought about how it emphasized Jesus as Mary's 'firstborn son' because we all know how the firstborn are treated, don't we?

When GK was born, we were so afraid that we were going to mess her up.

We followed every baby rule like we were Pharisees trying to get into heaven.

At the first sound of a cry, we would scoop her up and sing her songs and rock her in the chair.

And then, there's baby number 2, and if baby number 2 is not crying, so what if she's sucking on a 2 week old cheese puff she found under the chair!

Jesus was their firstborn son, and they didn't have much to offer him, but they offered what they could.

They wrapped him up in tightly wound swaddling cloths that were the standard of the day.

They wanted him to feel snuggled and safe.

They found him a dry and soft place to lay.

But, it’s not how Mary would’ve pictured it, and it’s not how Mary would’ve wanted it.

It was all she knew to do.

From Caesar’s perspective, he was doing whatever he wanted to.

From Mary’s perspective, she was just making it.

She was just doing what she knew to do with information she had in light of the circumstances she was facing.

There’s a lot more that we don’t know than we do know.

There’s a lot of decisions being made for us.

Mary shows us what to do when your overwhelmed and disadvantaged and struggling.

Just do what you know to do.

Honor God with the limited knowledge you have, and trust him with the outcomes.

Now, we’re prepared to see the beauty of the gift.

Caesar did what he wanted to do.

Mary did all that she knew to do.