What Christmas is About

welcome—

We want to welcome you in person and online, and thank you for joining us Christmas Eve.

a couple of instructions—

hopefully you got a candle. we have glowsticks for the younger ones, and candles for those who can handle it. if you didn’t get one, we won’t use them until the end. there are some in the foyer—you can grab one anytime while we are singing.

I love that we have this service alltogether. now if you have young kids—and -they start acting like young kids. don’t panic. those are beautiful noises. a couple options—you can roam with them in the hallways, service is on screen in the coffee area. if you have a crying baby, the nursery is open here to the right. It is not staffed—you have to stay with your baby, but there is a TV you could watch the service from there.

and if you have a crying restless husband, tell him to toughen up.

let’s pray.

Before I dive into my message, want to make you aware of a gift for you.

a few weeks ago, we announced a new resource available to you all called Right Now Media. It is like Netflix for Christian curriculum and Christian Bible studies and lessons. Our church purchased a monthly subscription and you can access this amazing resource for FREE.

and here is the amazing thing — You don’t have to attend here. You can be a visitor and access through our church’s subscription. You can be watching or attending from Timbuktu—which is actually a real place in Mali, West Africa.

in order to get it—our ushers will be passing out little cards on your way out with log in instructions. There is a QR code to scan or a weblink to go to create a username and password.

and you can access tons of lessons/series/videos on all types of Christian topics, books of the Bible—and even use it for personal and family devotions.

so commercial over - would encourage you to take one of these tiny cards on your way out.

We have heard a lot of Scripture reading on Luke 2.

What do we learn about Christmas?

b/c let’s face it, in all of the chaos of Christmas, we sometimes forget. there’s so much going on...this gathering that gathering.

in all of the joy—some of you put up your tree in June. God bless you.

in all of the hard times of Christmas, because let’s face it, this season can be so hard.

we are prone to forget or maybe we don’t know.

What is Christmas....what is the Christmas Story all about...

I’m glad you asked...

4 points:

Christmas is about history. (historical) (vs. 1-3)

it’s historical—in other words, it actually happened. some of us take that for granted, but there are probably some skeptics, and rightfully so.

b/c think of what Christians, followers of Jesus claim to believe—are you ready for this:

Pastor JD Greear in his book, Everyday Revolutionary—I love how he puts it. he says if you were raised in the church, you take this for granted, but to non-Christians our belief systems sounds bananas.

Everyday Revolutionary: How to Transcend the Culture War and Transform the World Difference 1: Our Beliefs Are Bananas

We believe that a God we can’t see with our eyes created everything there is with just a word from his mouth. That God has no beginning or end. He has always just been there, even though we can’t grasp with our minds or explain with our words how that could be. (Brooklynn would always ask me “where did God come from?”)

(We also believe)... The two naked humans (God) created rebelled against his command regarding a fruit tree because a talking snake tricked them into it. That one decision is what led to all the tsunamis, tornadoes, tarantulas, and trauma in the world.

Soon the thousands of descendants of those two humans became so sinful that God destroyed the whole lot of them with a flood, except for one six-hundred-year-old man and his immediate family, whom he saved by putting them on a huge boat with at least one pair of each kind of animal. And there might have been some intermarrying going on between angels and humans that produced a race of giants called the Nephilim during this time, but we’re not sure.

A few hundred years later God showed up again, this time to an obscure octogenarian and his wife in Mesopotamia, from whom he promised to build a nation. For the next several hundred years, the descendants of their family were his chosen nation, even though they never amounted to anything significant on the geopolitical world stage.

Into that insignificant nation a carpenter was born to two peasants (Joseph and Mary), and this carpenter was actually the God-man. During his adult life he never left Palestine, but we believe he is the King of the world forever. Roman authorities mindlessly disposed of him, but that was actually part of God’s plan, because through his obscure death he was paying the sin debt for all humanity, fulfilling a promise God made to those first two naked humans and those octogenarians. After being dead for a few days, the God-man rose and flew back up into heaven, leaving a small group of uneducated blue-collar workers in charge of telling everyone about his urgent life-or-death rescue mission.

The sacrifice of this God-man is the only way people can escape eternal condemnation (in hell). And now we, his followers, regard this backwoods first-century carpenter as the Lord of our lives, submitting to his perspectives on subjects as wide ranging as money, sex, war, and gender identity.

We call him the Prince of Peace and believe he is fully in charge of everything right now, even though the world is full of chaos and war. We say he has all authority in heaven and earth, even though people disobey him every day with seeming impunity and senseless tragedy happens all around us.

We are not dismayed, however, because we know one day he’ll come back riding through the skies on a white horse with a sword coming out of his mouth that will end all rebellion against him.

Don’t forget the white horse—it’s important. It’s accompanied by some gnarly bowls of wrath.

And then we’ll live happily ever after.

we believe a lot of weird of things. but to followers of Jesus, this is not a fairy tale “once upon a time,” or “in a galaxy far far away.” we believe this actually happened and will happen!

and I think Luke 2 helps us—because vs. 1-3 are grounded in boring, history.

Caesar is mentioned—he issues a decree of a census.

vs. 2—Quirinius is governor of Syria.

it’s grounded in history, real life history.

and I think even if you are not a believer, you want something real like this.

Listening to a podcast recently, Christian thinkers were speculating on what do we need and want most as a people from Christianity right now. we want something real. b/c we live in an age where we question everything. any picture we see or video we see online, we question it—because we are in the AI age—don’t believe anything you see on the internet. we want real more than ever. and we have it.

but we believe this story is true—Luke who wrote it, went into great detail to ground it in real history.

so Christmas first of all is historical—it’s a real story.

2. Christmas is about God (theological) - (vs. 1-7, 11)

this may sound obvious to some...but think about Caesar Augustus for a second.

Caesar is the most powerful human being at the time.

and as king, as Caesar, he issues a decree for a few reasons—wants to know how many are in his empire, but also for the purposes of taxation, and possibly even military reasons.

He is flexing his power— “I tell you where to go, and what to do.” “everyone must do it.”

this was not convenient for Joseph and Mary, especially being pregnant.

I remember my wife Jamie and her pregnancies, especially as they advanced, it became more and more uncomfortable, hard to breathe, need to stay near a bathroom because that kid is kicking your bladder.

everything at first glance feels like Caesar is in control. everything is out of control...

but we are reminded in the text—no God is in control.

2 reasons:

Reason #1:

the OT—the first part of the Bible, the prophet Micah, several hundred years earlier promised that the Messiah, the Savior would be born in Bethlehm

Micah 5:2 NIV

2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

God was using Caesar to simply orchestrate his plan.

another reason God is in control—it mentions the house and line of David.

Reason #2:

It was prophesied in the OT-that the Messiah, the Savior, the saving one would come from his line, Israel’s most famous OT king who killed Goliath

Isaiah 9:6–7 NIV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Christmas is about God.

it’s a reminder that while everything seems out of control, God is still very much in control—arranging and fulfilling his plan.

and what a reminder that is to us! some of us feel like life is very much out of control.

but the Christmas story if about God—it’s about God fulfilling his plan, even if it takes longer than we would want (God had been promising a Savior for thousands of years), even if it is fulfilled in a way we don’t expect. Jesus was born in a poor family, in a small town, in a feeding trough.

Is it possible that God is in control of your story—as hard as that is to hear? that He cares more than it feels right now...

3. Christmas is about Christ (Christological)

Luke 2:11 NIV

11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

Messiah means anointed one - chosen by God. someone chosen by God to lead and save.

Matthew 1:21 NIV

21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Jesus means “God saves.” (Greek form of the OT name Joshua)

Matthew 1:23 NIV

23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

the Israelites had been an oppressed people for hundreds of years—the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and now the Romans in world history.

they are were longing for freedom, longing to be the nation they used to be under King David and King Solomon at its height.

but the Christmas story reminds us that it is all about Jesus, and really His agenda for us.

his 1st coming, was not to make everything right—not to make Israel this great nation

Matthew 1—but to save us from the thing we need saving from the most—our sin.

and that takes me to point 4...

4. Christmas is about good news of great joy (Joyful-ological) (vs. 10)

Luke 2:10 NIV

10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

put the outline back up...

Christmas is about:

real history

God

Jesus

good news of great joy

it’s historical

theological

christological

and now joyful-logical. (I am sure that’s word)

You see—if Jesus had come the first time and ended all evil, all racism, all tsunamis, all disease, all evil—he would have had to wipe us out, too. because Scripture is clear that the most fundamental problem we have is our relationship with God.

we are sinners.

sin = substituting ourselves for God—putting ourselves in the place of God. a God who made us, who loves us, who made us to run on Him like we breathe oxygen.

I have found this can be the hardest most offensive thing for us to hear.

we don’t mind pointing out other problems in the world...

we don’t mind pointing the finger at other people...

but me—yes.

and I think if you think objectively about your life—you realize “oh...” I do cause problems. relationally. i have caused all sorts of problems—and the problem is “me” and my self-centered absorption. from me wanting to be in the place that only God was meant to be.

and this is where Christmas is good news of joy!

God initiated a rescue plan to save us from that sin—deep in our souls.

It’s not anything we earn or do—we can’t. it’s all God. it’s all grace. (every other way or religion says “do”; Christianity and Christmas says “Done..” God did it.)

God is so amazing that He knows us better than anyone—He knows how much we rebel against Him yet He draws near—and loves us to the core. (known and loved—that is what we want. we are scared of being known b/c we think people will not love us; and we are scared that if people love us—it’s because they don’t really know us)

God loved us so much...though he knows us so much

and He started that by entering our world—sending His Son as a baby. in some of the poorest conditions, most unexpected—showing that Christmas is for all. God wants to know everyone regardless of their background, regardless of income or status—He wants to know you. If I were God, I would have sent him with the perfect PR announcement and plan—but no—God sends him to a backwater village, in an unimpressive way (except for the angels)—shows Christmas is acceptable to all-we are saved by grace alone through faith alone—through Jesus alone.

this Jesus is fully God and fully man...wonder of wonders that we cannot begin to comprehend. that somehow the infinite God fit in a manger, was held, experienced, touched.

and this baby, grew up to be a man, in the line of David. Jesus shows us who God is—what God is like. His miracles, His love—He is the way, the truth, and the life. He has come that we may have it to the full - under Him as our king and Lord.

this is good news! that no matter what we have done or failed to do—God initiated a rescue plan so we can be forgiven of our sins, and have life with him. and it all comes through Jesus Christ.

that produces joy—because if we know we are forgiven now, we know that in the eyes of our Maker—we are good. we can get to know God day by day, He guides us loves us—that’s our identity. (not achieved but received)

and we are good for eternity—so that when we face death someday—we know where we are going—to be with Jesus in heaven for eternity.

it all begins with humbly admitting that you need a Savior—that you have messed up—that Jesus did everything you could not. and it continues by building that relationship of grace with Jesus everyday. that will produce joy.

let’s pray.

thanking Jesus for being the light...

instructions—