The Reason for Christmas

Manuscript

Questions:

Why do we celebrate Christmas?

How Christians celebrate Christmas?

Scripture References:

Luke 2:8–20 CSB “In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.” Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors! When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.”

Colossians 1:15–17 CSB “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.”

Philippians 2:6–8 “who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.”

John 14:16–17 CSB “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.”

Luke 2:7 CSB “Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”

Good afternoon everyone, my name is Nathan and I am a student pastor at Carolina College of Biblical Studies in Fayetteville. I just want to thank you all for having my wife and I come visit. We are grateful to you all for allowing us to be here and we are grateful to God for allowing us all to gather here today. Before we start I would like to pray over the sermon and I would also like to pray over some of your personal needs. So if anyone has any prayer requests you can just raise your hand and I will call on you and I encourage everyone else to take notes and be praying for your brothers and sisters in Christ. (Take a few prayer requests, then pray for the service)

PRAY: Lord we lift up all these prayer requests to you and ask you to answer them. Lord we have peace knowing that you hear our requests and that you care for us so much. Lord we know that You care for us so much, that you sent your Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Lord I pray that you use this sermon to lift up hearts and I pray that you would give me the strength to deliver this message. I pray we all can turn our hearts to you this Christmas season. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Today we’re going to study what the real reason for Christmas is. Some people say that Christmas is about getting gifts, finding good sales and decorating the Christmas tree. All those things can be great and enjoyable, but none of those things are the true reason for celebrating Christmas. And this is coming from a guy who has three Christmas trees up in his house right now lol. The two questions that I want to answer today is “Why we celebrate Christmas?” and the other question is “How should we celebrate?”. To answer these two questions we are going to be diving into Luke 2:8–20. So if you could now all turn your Bibles to Luke Chapter 2 or you can follow along in the handouts we passed out. (Give people time to turn in their Bibles)

Luke 2:8-20 “In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.” Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors! When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.” We all know the story of the birth of Jesus but this Christmas we’re gonna dive deeper into the scriptures to get a greater understanding of his birth and we are going to answer our two questions “Why we celebrate Christmas and How should celebrate Christmas”. Let’s get started. There is so much to dive into with this passage and I encourage you all to study it out verse by verse. But for the sake of time, today we are going to be looking at verses 12 and 20, to answer our two questions. Luke 2:12 says “This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger”.

This is the answer to our first question “Why we celebrate Christmas”. We celebrate Christmas to remember Jesus Christ being born into the world. Jesus was the lamb that was led to the slaughter for our sins. He was God incarnate who came and walked among us and lived the life that we all should have lived and He died the death that we all should have died.

Colossians 1:15–17 says “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and by him all things hold together”.

Just think about this for a moment, it says that Jesus created all things. Think about how powerful Jesus has to be in order to do that. He is the mighty one true God who traded His throne in heaven to become one of the lowest of lows, a innocent and defenseless baby. In every other religion people are always trying to do their best to get to God. But Christianity is the ONLY religion where God has come down to us. And this is why we celebrate Christmas.

The next question that we had was “How should we celebrate Christmas”. If we look at Luke 2:20 it says “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.”

The shepherds were “glorifying God and praising Him for all the things they had seen and heard”. As Christians we should celebrate just like the shepherds did. We should glorify God and praise Him for what He has done in our lives. Not only did God send His son to die for us. But God has given us His Holy Spirit. So if anything we have more of a reason to glorify God than the Shepard's did.

Hebrews 13:5–6 says “Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. Therefore, we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”.

At the end of verse 6 it says “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” There is never a reason for us to be scared because we know that we have Gods Holy Spirit dwelling in us! It also says “Gods Holy Spirit will never leave you or abandon you”. This thought is so comforting, to know that God is always with us! When no one else is around to listen to us or to comfort us, Gods is always there. When you are struggling financially, or in physical pain or you get that bad health report that no one wants to hear. God’s Holy spirit is there to comfort you through it ALL.

If we look at Luke 2:7 it says “Then she [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” So this Christmas I encourage you don’t leave Jesus out in the cold lying in a manger, leave a guest room available for Him inside your hearts. Let us bow our heads and pray:

Lord we are so thankful for your son. We are grateful that you saved wretched sinners like us. Lord this Christmas we take time to reflect on your goodness and the goodness of your son. God we are so great full that you have given us the Holy Spirit as our counselor and helper. To always comfort us even when no one else is around. Lord we pray for those who don’t know you. We pray for lost friends and family members. We pray that you would reveal yourself to them this Christmas season. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.