The Life He Chose

Intro

Much controversy has long been associated with the day we know as Christmas. Many believers a vehemently against celebrating a holiday not given expressly by God. Others are convicted that we have the liberty to do so in Christ. While I know where I stand on the issue, and personally don’t care on which side of the debate anyone falls on, I figure a brief history of the holiday would be good for us.

Then, I we will walk through the birth of Jesus and, hopefully, understand that at least a reverence is due to the day the Incarnate God was born.

A Brief History:

Many will say that the date on which we observe Christmas was assimilated from the pagans.

Saturnalia, other holidays were known to occur from Dec. 21 through January.

Many cultures had various celebrations during this general time. However, this does not mean the Christians took their timeline from them.

Hippolytus — late 3rd Century Christian scholar who concluded Jesus was conceived and killed on the same day. By that time the death was generally figured to be about March 25. Add 9 mo. and you have December 25!

Remember back on Easter Sunday we discovered together that Easter is entirely Christian — Christmas is the same way! We have the date of Christmas based on an early tradition of when Easter (Pascha in Greek) was.

Now, Christmas was not always celebrated with reverence. It was for centuries, but in the Middle Ages in UK it had become a time of revelry and merrymaking and sin. Because of this, celebration was eventually outlawed. However, it was eventually reinstated again but with an attitude of reverence.

Many in our brotherhood will become very defensive over this and say that we are only given to celebrate the Death and Resurrection of Our Lord, not His birth. However, how would we have the the Death and Resurrection without the Birth?

If God did not condescend to our feeble state, we never would have had the Resurrection through which we are saved. Therefore, whether we celebrate the Birth as a religious holiday at all, it is still worth our respect and reverence and thanksgiving.

The Son Became Flesh

Hear what the Apostle John says: John 1.1-5

John 1:1–5 LSB

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

And Just in case we need further proof of Who this Word is see Colossians 1.15-17

Colossians 1:15–17 LSB

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, And in Him all things hold together.

and also Phil. 2.6

Philippians 2:6 LSB

6 who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

Then, this Word became flesh and lived among us, according to John 1.14, and He totally emptied Himself of all His glory to take on the position of a slave according to Philippians 2.7.

This is worthy to be our first point of notice, because it shows us just how great is the humility of our Lord and Savior that a King, that God, should set aside His heavenly glory and take to Himself created flesh! The Uncreated One partaking in the Creation!

Is this fact alone, this love shown by God, not worthy of our joy, affection, and reverence?

The Son Seen by Shepherds

Now, we move on to see to whom He chose to reveal the incarnation first. Lk. 2.1-17

Luke 2:1–17 LSB

1 Now it happened that in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus for a census to be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And everyone was going to be registered for the census, each to his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 in order to register along with Mary, who was betrothed to him, and was with child. 6 Now it happened that while they were there, the days were fulfilled for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guest room. 8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. 11 For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 “And this will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” 15 And it happened that when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they went in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. 17 And when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.

I don’t know whether shepherds were really viewed as societal outcasts, as is usually believed. However, these people being chosen is still worthy of note regardless of that.

These shepherds, leaders of literal flocks, were given to be the first outsiders to see the Good Shepherd of God’s flock — what an image!

Shepherds also, to my understanding, were not particularly wealthy people. That being said, one would expect that that any human king would be seen in palaces by those of the ruling class! Yet, God chose to be seen by the poor, in swaddling clothes, laying in a feed trough.

See what humility and grace our God has shown that He would be first revealed to Israel this way!

The Son Worshiped

Yet, even with this we do not see the shepherds worshipping Incarnate God laying before them. The first ones to worship Him are seen in Matthew 2.1-11

Matthew 2:1–11 LSB

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” 3 And when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he was inquiring of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 And they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: 6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you shall come forth a Leader Who will shepherd My people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod secretly called the magi and carefully determined from them the time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.” 9 Now after hearing the king, they went their way; and behold, the star, which they had seen in the east, was going on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. 10 And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And after coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

There are a few things important to notice here:

Whatever this star was, they knew an infant king was near Jerusalem and they had come to worship Him! Now, if the King was thought to be a full grown man, it would make sense that they should come to worship him — perhaps in hopes of receiving something from him eventually or being on his god side. Yet, what difference does it make to a child? And they knew, according to verse 2, that he was only just born and it was the child they came to worship!

Next, and lastly for this morning, we need to understand a little bit about whom these men were. Matthew tells us they had come from the East!

This is a very obvious tell that they were not Jews! They may have been from Persia, Mesopotamia, or Arabia. But they certainly were not from Judea/Palestine.

Presumably, the shepherds had been Jews. They had recieved the revelation that the Messiah was to come. yet it was the Gentiles who understood He was worthy to be worshiped!

Jesus the Lord, as probably no more than a toddler, invited the Gentile to come and worship Him before any Jewish person had!

Even the man Simeon, having seen the Child the day of His circumcision, embraced the infant and blessed the Father in heaven; the Shepherds blessed the Child!

Praise God for the immense grace He has given to men that even the alien Gentile can come to Him worship Him! This was but the beginning of what was completed in the resurrection, as Paul says Ephesians 2.14-15

Ephesians 2:14–15 LSB

14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might create the two into one new man, making peace,

Conclusion

At the end of all this I hope we can see two things here:

That Christmas is historically not Pagan

Most importantly, that whether you celebrate religiously or not, we need to understand and revere the Incarnation of the Lord! We haven’t even scratched the surface of all the depth and beauty present on that day! So this week, as Christmas comes and we eat, spend time with family, and give to one another — or if we do nothing — remember that holy day and let’s just stand amazed at the grace and humility of the God we serve Who has loved us.