1.3.3 12.21.2025 Walk to the Manger

Start:

Entice: Our yearly walk to the manger is a highlight of the season.  Our “gifts for Jesus” are a reminder of the gift of God we celebrate during this season.  This big Sunday before Christmas also helps to unify us in service and ministry.  This journey to Bethlehem, this walk to the manger, this orderly coming to Jesus reminds us that we are merely the most recent pilgrims to Bethlehem. Not the first, not the last, not the only pilgrims.

Engage: We each make this shared pilgrimage in our own personal way. Consider  your own profound spiritual experiences of Christmas.  They will be different from mine or anyone else’s. Some of your moments will be about the people in Church, perhaps a memorable program or Christmas Eve service. Some of your experiences will focus on moments at home that took on a nearly sacred character.

For example in our household, since my parents were married on Christmas Day,  it was not uncommon—after she passed away for us to think about Mom on Christmas Day, and to give Dad a little space if he got misty eyed.

Reflecting on departed Saints is appropriate during Christmas. We need to recall those who have had an impact on our  Christian lives…who have shared previous walks to the manger with us.  What formative encounters with Jesus or with His people do you, or will you remember,  during this  season of Spiritual reflection? I think that we are missing something central if we don’t see this Walk to the Manger as a time of Spiritual Nurture. 

Expand: The Bible stories of the nativity are very familiar. It can be hard for a preacher to pick what he will emphasize when during this long season. I’ve tried to alter my course a bit this year, and ask some provocative questions during the Christmas season.

We asked the question what are Christmas sermons even supposed to be? 

Then last week we talked about the real, genuine Father Christmas. 

Today,

we come to the central,

most important question

I can ask you during Christmas.

Do you know Jesus?

Not just the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay but the risen, living, Lord Jesus who has keys to death and the grave in His hand. The babe in the manger is merely the prelude to His magnificent story.

Whatever Christmas sermons are, or should hope to accomplish, discuss, or highlight—my principle task is to teach Scripture and tell you about Jesus.

Will this holy season,

will this walk to the manger

strengthen your relationship to Him?

Will your year long walk of discipleship be strengthened because we have gone upon this journey together in 2025?

Excite: This Christmas season I have tried to frame this central question a number of different ways.

What is Christmas all about?

That was the central, plaintive plea uttered by Charley Brown in A Charlie Brown Christmas. In a real sense that question still requires attention.

Why celebrate the season?

Why consider the babe, His parents, and His visitors?

Why strain to hear the Angels sing with Joy?

Why make this walk to the manger?

The answer? 

Explore:

We walk to the Manger to draw closer to God. 

Expand: At Christmas, the Child in the manger helps to clarify the issues at the vey heart of our faith. 

Body of Sermon: The first issue is, of course 

1 The Crisis.

What crisis? The Sin crisis!

Matthew 1:20–21 ESV

20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

1.1 Sin that separates us from God.

The crisis of sin is the reason that the whole thing unfolds.

The Bible is the story of how the crisis came to be,

how Jesus addresses and resolves it,

and how we proclaim the outcome to the world. 

1.2 A Savior who Saves us. 

Luke 2:11 ESV

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

A central issue at Christmas is of course.

2 The Cradle.

The Christmas story reminds us that our creator God came to us not to conquer but to console.

The story of Jesus’ birth is a story of

2.1 Vulnerability.

Luke 2:6–7 ESV

6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 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.

2.2 Incarnation.

Luke 2:12–14 ESV

12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was 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 those with whom he is pleased!”

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

2.3 Humility.

Philippians 2:5–7 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

We really need more sermons from Philippians 2.2-5 at Christmas. In the stable we witness for the first time a central message of Jesus: The winners will become losers—the losers will become winners. To redeem us, the second person of the trinity was robed in vulnerability, flesh, and humility. If we cannot learn that lesson on our walk to the manger, we risk losing the heart of our Gospel.

The vulnerability and humility of the cradle prepares us to address the inescapable issue of

3 The Cross.

Romans 5:6 ESV

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Galatians 4:4–5 ESV

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Philippians 2:5–8 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

3.1 If Jesus is the “Reason for the Season”,

The Cross is the reason for the reason.

3.2 We walk to manger in the shadow of Jesus’ walk to the cross.

3.3 During Christmas we worship knowing the whole story. 

Shut Down

Even as we walk the snowy path to the manger we balance our understanding of the crisis of sin, the cradle of His humanity, and the cross of His sacrifice. We may want to focus our thoughts elsewhere during Christmas. I think it is safe to say that God thought as much about the cross on that first Christmas morning as He did about the cradle. 

We have heard tales of those who are depressed by solitude during the holidays. We may know people who cannot “keep Christmas” the way they wished because of poverty or loneliness, anger, fear or frustration. We may even feel guilty if we are surrounded by family, food, friendship, and festival during Christmas. One of my emphases this Christmas tide, from Advent till the final of the 12 days of Christmas is to remind you that the birth was the beginning of a much larger plan of redemption on the part of our Lord Jesus.

Whatever  our individual circumstances we all can join hearts and hands to walk to the Manger. Not to participate in cartoon renditions of extraordinary Christmas cheer but to remember together that the Crisis of Sin, Led to the Cradle, which led Jesus to the Cross.