Announcing the Good News

Gender Reveals

Over the last 5 or so years, gender reveals have become quite popular.

If you’re on social media then I’m sure you’ve seen the increasingly creative, or at times just bizarre ways that people go to tell people whether they’re having a boy or a girl.

Apparently it started with a cut. When they cut the cake it revealed either blue or pink, and then everyone gets excited.

Then came the various iterations with balloons or party poppers.

But for some people, they wanted to go to even greater lengths.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t always ended well.

As people try to out do each other, there’s been reports that a bush fire started, destroying many houses, all starting from some elaborate gender reveal explosion.

I haven’t verified if it’s true, but I also heard one story of an earthquake being triggered by a gender reveal gone wrong.

Now we can discuss whether you think gender reveals are a good thing or not - although certainly at the extreme end, I’d have to say they are rather foolish.

But if we put aside the fact that people are trying to outdo each other, at the heart of the practice, is that people are excited about the fact that they are about to have a baby.

And it is exciting!

There is something so wonderful about the idea of bringing a new life into the world.

Now I do want to acknowledge, for some people, this is not possible. And this can be really hard. And if this is the case for you - know that God can and will bless you in many ways.

Now we know how much joy your own baby can bring - but what if, somehow, you knew that your baby was going to do something really special in this world?

Imagine, for example, you were the mother of William Wilberforce, the man who ended the practice of the slave trade in England.

Imagine if you were told that your child was going to do something like this?

I’d imagine that joy inside you would feel like you’re going to burst.

The reality is, for the vast majority of people, they have no idea what they’re child is going to do. And that’s fine - because we don’t love them because of what they do, we love them because of that special bond between a parent and child.

But at Christmas, we do remember someone who was told what their child would do.

Some of you might be familiar with the song “Mary did you know?” The song writer asks the question whether Mary knew what her baby would do.

It’s a very evocative song, and I really like it, but the reality is - Mary was actually told what this child would do.

Now whether she really comprehended the enormity of it… well, I suspect not. But the angel actually told her… “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants for ever; his king will never end”.

When Jesus is later dedicated in the temple, she’s told that he will bring salvation to the nations.

What did she make of all this? Well, we do have what we call Mary’s song. Or some of you might know it as the Magnificat.

Words that express how her soul glorifies the Lord.

She wouldn’t have known the specifics of how it was all to come about, but she knew that this was something special.

Mary had the privilege of knowing that her child was going to be something extraordinary.

She didn’t do a gender reveal - she got to do an Angel reveal - which I think would have been way cooler.

Of course, Mary had nothing to do with the organising of that one - but just out of town, while the shepherds watched their sheep - the angels appeared to the shepherds.

You see, here’s the thing - this birth was so extraordinary, that the heavens were bursting with excitement.

What’s it all about?

But what’s it all about? Why is this all so exciting?

You see, this birth is like no other.

Sure, some other great people have been born, but no one with nearly the same sort of significance as Jesus.

You see, Jesus was what the world needed.

You see, the world has been messed up. It was messed up because people turned their back on God and tried to do things their own way.

It has become so messed up, that it is impossible to fix it by ourselves. No matter what we do, we know one constant in this world, is that the selfishness of humanity will always show itself, and when we become selfish, we will keep fighting with each other.

We needed something that was going to completely change everything. It was not going to happen with just a person. What we needed, was God himself - and he did the most wonderful thing and decide to come to earth in the form of a person.

And this is what we find with Jesus.

It’s the reason we can have hope.

He makes it possible for people to change.

He, and he alone, was able to deal with the real problem - the thing that we call sin.

It’s only when this is dealt with, that we can start to see real change.

And even though this world is still messed up, the beautiful thing is that since Jesus has come, we actually have seen change.

I mentioned William Wilberforce before. There is an example of someone changed by Jesus, who brought about such a significant change.

Or we could look at people who made education available to the general population, or health care for all - things that were done by people changed by Jesus.

Conclusion

Today we look around and this world is as messed up as ever.

But even in this mess, we can see moments of beauty as Jesus breaks through.

For this reason, as we come close to Christmas, we still celebrate this birth. We celebrate it because we see someone who really does bring change. Changes that are so depserately needed.

Perhaps you’ve come here tonight feeling a lot of despair because of what has happened in this world.

If this is you, then allow room for Jesus in your life.

Because if you are open to it, he will reveal himself to you. And that same presence that has changed countless lives throughout history, can change your’s too.

If you are unsure what this means, I would encourage you to speak to me or one of the other pastors or church leaders here, because letting Jesus into your life will be one of the best things you can ever do.

Let me pray...