What Child is This? 2

Intro

We are going to continue our Christmas series “What Child is this?”

Just as I talked about last week

And I also said last week if you didn’t know the real reason we celebrate Christmas is because of the birth of our messiah

Its not for the lights on the tree

Our presents

Or Santa Claus

We believe as Christians that Jesus that died on the cross for all of our sins

But even though he did such an amazing thing

was born as a normal baby. fully God-and- Fully man

And so we celebrate his birth because of all of the amazing things that Jesus life brought to us.

This is where the name “What Child is this” comes from

For many of us in this room who have the Christmas story before have a very cute view of it?

Which is fine and great. however the REAL Christmas story is very far from this

but the path that Mary and Joesph had to go through for Jesus to be born was anything but this cute beautiful picture scene

my hope and prayer for us as we go through these messages

Is for you guys to hopefully have a new view:

A new view of this story

A new view of the Characters in this story

A new view of The little child in the manger

And ultimately a new view Christmas

So To get us kicked off I am going to Read all of our scripture today and then we will unpack it

Stand up

Luke 2:1–20 “At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.”

This week I want to continue with the theme of things that Jesus is

Today we are going to go through 4 points about Jesus in our story

1. Jesus came into the world with some struggle

Luke 2:1–5 “At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.”

As many of you know, my wife Delaney and I just had our first baby back in August.

One thing that I am sure many of you have maybe heard before

Child birth is not easy. In fact many moms says it’s some of the hardest things that they have ever endured

For Delaney it was no different

She went into labor early than expected

She ended laboring for 46 hours

She planned on not getting an Epideral however the pain was so bad that she ended up doing it

Icing on the cake

2 weeks after Henry was born Delaneys had to have her gallbladder removed .

Why am I sharing all of this?

I say all of this because in the same way

The birth of Jesus was a struggle

In our story we see that The Roman Empire called for a Census

Who knows what a census is?

Yeah they count everyone

and so the way those Census worked meant that you had to return to your ancestral town

Even if it is super far away

So picture it. you have Mary who is extremely pregnant

knowing that any day she is going to have to give birth to the Messiah

Thats crazy, and then thrown in Joesph

we know from last week Joesph was a righteous man in the eyes of God

He has to help, and watch his finace who he loved go through all of this pain

Have you ever had to watch someone care about go through a hard time?

And so we see that they went through all of this pain. had to deal with all of these ups and downs, but of course the question is why?

And now because of this cenus they have to travel roughly 80-90 miles!!

Let me put that into perspective for you

If you and I just packed up our stuff and decided that we were going to walk to Detroit that still wouldn’t even be 80 miles let alone 90

Picture that. 90 miles of walking

Physical pain

exhaustion

For Joseph the pain of watching someone you love Struggle

Here is what I want you to hear

All of this shows us that Jesus was fully God and fully man

For those of you that don’t know

We as Christians beleive that Jesus while he was on the earth was fully God and Fully man

Meaning 100% God and 100% man

So when we look at this example of Mary walking so far

Having birth pains

Dealing with the stress of having to travel

it all points to Jesus humanity

Jesus didn’t just appear majesty from heaven

He did wasn’t born just so perfectly that Mary didn’t feel any pain

This matters for us

Because Jesus humanity points to Gods love for us

The One who paid for all the sins of the World

The one who taught us all things we need to know about his father

Was human!!!

Jesus felt emotions like you and do

Jesus felt pain like you and I do

Jesus felt Joy

And excitement like you and I do

How many of you have ever felt like God is tooooooo big for you before?

Guess what Jesus birth can remind you that he is not!!

2. Jesus Came for the lowly

Luke 2:6–7 “And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.”

Have you guys ever had Christmas before where you have gotten like the exact present that you wanted?

I had a Christmas like that one time

I will never forget it

Christmas 2008

There was one video game that came out that changed my video game experience forever

Does anyone have a guess

Yes Rockband 2

I absolutely loved the guitar hero games that came out before

Anyways that Christmas I had been hoping and hoping to get it

But I remember the most interesting thing about the gift was how my parents gave it to me.

It wasn’t just underneath the tree wrapped up in all this fancy stuff

But it was in a closet covered up with a blanket.

My mom had done like a scavenger hunt kind of thing for it in our house.

But I just thought it was so interesting.

This thing that had so much value in my eyes

It wasn’t wrapped in the all the ways that we think about a gift being wrapped up in

In fact it was kinda the opposite

I say all of this because when Jesus was born the Bible tells us that he was born in a manger.

Many scholars believe that Mary and Joesph slept that night in stables.

When you really start to paint that picture

The cute nativity really starts to disappear

How many of you guys have been in a barn before with Animals in it

How did it smell in there?

Pretty gross right

So the king of kings

Lord of Lords

The son of God himself

They didn’t have enough room for

And So he had to be born in a manger

And so we have this picture of the most amazing gift of all time, but instead of looking perfect

God Chose him to be wrapped in clothes and put in a manger??????

A say all of this not just because it shows Jesus human side, but it shows us that as he was born he was an example of humility

From the moment Jesus was born he placed in a lowly place

Places where animals belong

a dirty

Lesser than place

But what I find interesting is that it was the first place that we ever see Jesus

Here is what I want you to hear

Jesus birth in a manger foreshadowed what the rest of his ministry would look like

Luke 5:31–32 “Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.””

Jesus didn’t come for people who feel like they have it all together. He came for the ones who are lost

the ones who are broken

the ones who are lowly

3. Jesus surprises us

Luke 2:8–14 “That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.””

How many of you guys like this movie?

When the first Avengers movie came out in like 2012 I watched the absolute crap out of it

Of course at that time the MCU was really just beginning

And so when it comes to movies

anybody else in here ever seen a movie like a bazillion times, but there are still times when you go back and watch it but you notice something different?

Maybe its a book for you?

A TV show

Video game

Maybe even in something smaller like a puzzle

Thats how avengers was for me

especially for end credits scene

Watching the movie years later there are so many things that I notice now

Right, so even though I had seen this movie so many times. I still watch it and i’m surprised

Why say all of this

In our story we have something truly amazing happen

With shepherds in the fields

Doing their normal jobs

When literal thousands of angels show up and tell them to go see about Jesus

This is important because as Shepherds living in Judea

Many scholars believe that these shepherds would have been Jewish

Followers of God. that would have also been awaiting some day for savior to come .

And so these were normal people

Doing something that would have done hundreds if not thousands of times.

But comes along , and brings this huge surprise

Calling them of all people.

Here is what I want you to hear

Jesus never Stops surprising you when you live for him

I am going to give you an honest truth that maybe you have never heard from a Pastor before

But there are times that I don’t feel a crazy spiritual high when I come to church

There are times when I am just doing my job like normal

But even after being a Christian for 10 years

There are still times that Jesus suprises me

He moves in a way that touches my heart

moves me

affects me

sometimes can even make me emotional

And so I say prayerfully as an encouragement to you

There are times in life when your relationship with God is not sunshine and rainbows

But the truth is that all God needs is our continual yes

When we simply give him our yes he keeps moving in our lives

4. Jesus changes lives

Luke 2:15–20 “When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.”

I want you to think back to my rockband 2 example again

I remember when I first got back to school I was so hype to tell as many people as possible about it

Did you ever have a gift like that?

I was pumped, because in my little 7 year old brain

I thought “this thing has like completely changed my life”

And the truth is that’s just how we all are

When we have encountered something that has truly left an impact on us. we want to tell people about it

In our story we see the exact same thing. however not because the Shepherds got Rock band 2 as a gift

But because they had not only a crazy encounter with God

But they had an encounter with the Kings of Kings and Lords of Lords

Even though he was a baby

It didn’t matter. The shepherds knew they interactions with the Messiah

Jesus changed their lives

Let me leave you with this thought

You will know when Jesus has changed your life because you won’t want to just keep him for yourself anymore

If we look at our scripture one last time

Luke 2:17–18 “After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished,”

When the Shepherds met Jesus they didn’t just keep it to themselves

they wanted to tell everyone that they could

I want to tell you something today that might be hard to hear

When we truly live lives for Jesus our focus isn’t just about our relationship with Jesus

But its about introducing others to who Jesus is

There are many people we interact with even Christians

Will talk about religon and they will say things

like “Oh i jsut keep it to myself”

“Yeah I am a Christian, but it is just between me in God”

Yet we see the first people who ever interacted with Jesus spread who he is others

Write down who is somebody that you can invite to church for Christmas eve service