Who Needs Christmas? The World Did

Who Needs This?

What I hate about Christmas

Bringing up the decorations

But, I love what Sara does w/ them and how the house looks when she’s done.

I hate bringing them up, but I love how it looks.

Stressors

Decorations

Family

Money/debt

Parties/business

Extra sugar

Regrets

I don’t mean to go all Scrooge here, but...

Who needs this?!

For all the trouble, battles, hassles, expense

Is it worth all this?

Who in their right mind would subject themselves to this?

We all do. The entire world does. B/C we all need Christmas.

I don’t mean the Christmas season, I mean, the original Christmas.

For all the trouble that God went to, for all the trouble the world was in, God orchestrated the details to bring about the events that we celebrate now.

Who needs Christmas? The world did.

All those details over all those years. It’s a remarkable story.

It’s a Remarkable Story

The virgin birth

A young virgin is pregnant.

Let’s back up for a minute.

A virgin birth is not necessary for our salvation.

The resurrection is.

No resurrection, no Christianity.

Whatever gets us there is important, but not necessarily vital to the story.

But, what does get us there is worth taking note.

The virgin birth is a sign. It was predicted, prophecied.

So, when a young virgin shows up pregnant we should take notice and find out what the story is.

It’s only happened once in history.

So, what’s the story?

The simple, obvious assumption is it all began here. It didn’t. It began 2 thousand years before Mary met Gabriel.

Where it began

We assume the Christmas story began w/ a young couple wondering how they got pregnant. But it doesn’t.

The Christmas story began w/ an old couple wondering if they would ever get pregnant.

That’s the beginning of the back story.

It’s a miracle that a woman who had never been intimate w/ a man in that day and age could conceive. Almost unbelievable that this promise made to Mary could come true. Certainly remarkable.

But, going back 2 thousand years, an even more unbelievable, incoherent, impossible promise was made to an old couple.

In its cultural context it made no sense.

In 2090 B.C God made Abram and Sarai this promise. It is also the beginning of the Jewish nation.

This is the back story to the Christmas season we celebrate today.

How Christmas Began

Genesis 12:1–3 NIV

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

No security, no sense

Why Abram? Just b/c God wanted to.

God saw something in him.

Father was a Pagan priest.

Leave.

Why? Physical security and financial security.

Exposed out on their own.

Where?

I’ll tell you when you get there.

Maybe just a hint? Who sets out on a journey like this w/out an itinerary? Reservations. Destinations.

Fame?

A great nation? That requires having kids. They had none.

And, you’re asking me to leave what family I do have.

Famous? I’ll be forgotten.

One nephew. That’s it.

I won’t be famous, I’ll be forgotten.

Bless other nations?

Nations didn’t bless other nations.

They conquered them, enslaved them, plundered them.

Why family proximity was so important.

This was just the way of life. It was normal.

Nations didn’t bless nations.

They did their best to bless themselves and that was it.

Yet, he obeyed

Abram chose to believe this unbelievable promise.

He loaded up what family he had and they left.

And, God began the process of fulfilling the promise, at least it seemed so to a degree.

Some things were happening that could seem to contribute to the fulfillment of the promise.

His family grew. And so did the dysfunction.

A Nation

Abram lied about Sara being his wife.

Isaac. After Ishmael w/ Hagar.

Jacob. Lied to get the blessing from Esau. Had 12 sons.

Joseph. Sold by his brothers into slavery.

Ends up 2nd in command to Pharaoh.

Provides a safe home for Jacob and his brothers in Egypt.

The Hebrews grew in number and the new Pharaoh was afraid they would rise up for a war so he enslaved them.

100’s of years Israel was a slave nation in Egypt.

And they remembered the promise made to their father Abram.

But, not feeling very blessed right now nor in a position to bless anybody.

Then, God sent a deliverer.

Moses.

By the time Moses got done w/ Pharaoh and the plagues Egypt wasn’t feeling very blessed by the descendants of Abram. They paid them all their wealth to leave.

They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years while 2 million people died. Not feeling very blessed.

Moses led them right up to the Promised Land. Then, Joshua led them in.

Joshua. Across the river and into Canaan.

For the people who already lived there, it was not time to bless them. It was time to annihilate them. Destroy them. A blood bath.

This may seem offensive to us but it was normal to them. This was their culture.

One reason why it is so offensive to us is b/c we’re on the other side of Christmas.

But, this was the way of life for them.

The Nation grew into the Kingdom of Israel. There was land and descendants. And they lived there somewhat faithfully and obediently.

About 1000 years after Abram rec’d the promise the Kingdom had a king.

David. The warrior king.

David continued the process of battling the people in the land and conquered them.

As imperfect as he was it wasn’t his sin the prevented him from being the one who built the temple.

As a warrior, he had blood on his hands so God wouldn’t let him build the place where He would reside.

That was reserved for his son, Solomon.

Solomon. The builder king.

Finally, w/ the temple and Jerusalem built and the kingdom established they are in a position to be able to bless the rest of the world.

Powerful and wealthy.

But, instead of blessing the world, Solomon chose to marry numerous young women from the people who lived in the land.

To keep his wives happy he took their idols and added them to the religious practices of the day.

God warned him. If you do this I will tear this nation from you and I will divide it. I will destroy the temple you build and the city.

You will become a laughing stock to the world, not a blessing.

That’s a promise. And, God kept it.

A Divided Nation

Civil war

Now the nation is divided in two.

Now the nation is divided in two.

The Northern kingdom is much larger and they kept the name Israel.

The Southern kingdom much small, controlled the land that included Jerusalem.

A divided economy and a divided military made them much weaker and vulnerable.

The Assyrians

After 300 years in the Promised Land the Assyrians invaded the Northern kingdom.

They couldn’t defend themselves.

The Assyrians killed the priests, exported their leaders and influential people throughout the land, and imported their own people and gods.

The Northern kingdom no longer exists.

Judah sees what’s happening. They are the smaller of the 2. They know it’s inevitable.

They’re not in a position to bless themselves or anybody else.

They are exposed and preparing for the worst.

While they are preparing t/b invaded, God sent them a prophet to speak to them.

Isaiah strolled into town.

Christmas is Coming

Isaiah 49

Isaiah 49:5–7 NIV

And now the Lord says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength— he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” This is what the Lord says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel— to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

A joke?!

We’re going to be a light to the Gentiles?!

We can’t even light up our own lives. We can’t save ourselves.

If it’s so easy to restore Israel why don’t you prevent what’s happening right now?

Stop w/ the empty promises!

Then, the inevitable.

The inevitable

The Assyrians invade and force Judah into a vassal state.

300 years later the Babylonians invade. Breach the wall around Jerusalem. Destroy the city, temple and the wall.

Kill the priest, export the best and brightest, import their own people and idols.

There is no Judah. There is no Israel. There are only ruins.

Like so many other nations over time, just broken buildings, walls and promises.

But, God had a time-limit on this, 70 years.

Zerubabbel, Ezra, and Nehemiah lead the people back and rebuild Jerusalem.

Just as they are beginning to regain their footing but far from influential in the world, God sent another prophet to speak to them.

Christmas is Just Around the Corner

Malachi 1:11 NIV

My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.

It’s been about 1700 years since Abram rec’d the original promise.

Everything that’s happened.

Sure, the temple has been rebuilt but it’s not a nice as the last one.

The walls are patched, the city rebuilt, the farms are beginning to produce. But the people were still not feeling real blessed nor were they in a position to bless anybody.

A great name?

Your name is going to be great?!

Right now, it’s a joke. A byword. A punchline.

No one wants to worship you. Why would they? You haven’t shown the ability or desire to protect your own.

Why would they join us and worship you?

From the east to the west, everyone who worships will acknowledge God. Really? Seriously?

There is a name that’s about to be great. In fact, it’s part of his name today.

Alexander the Great.

Alexander rolls into the region and conquers it, unifies it under Greece.

Roman occupation

Then, in 63 B.C. Rome sends Pompei in and he conquers everybody and sets up Roman rule over the region.

Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, now Rome.

Pompei breached the wall that Nehemiah build, rode his horse into the temple courtyard, slaughtered the priests, pulled back the curtain, walked into the Holy of Holies and declared:

“What a puny God.”

Every other nation had an idol that represented their god.

Israel had no images so the room looked empty.

In his estimation, what a pathetic religion.

God’s name is not great.

The people, Jew nor Gentile, are blessed by any stretch of the imagination.

Thus began the Roman occupation of the Holy Land.

All the nations of the world were not blessed through Abram. The Jewish God was not worshiped by anybody.

B/C nobody was interested in a God who could not take care of His own people.

What makes the Christmas story so remarkable is that when things seemed so hopeless, so helpless, couldn’t get any worse; the time was just right for God.

Christmas Arrived

The timing was perfect

Galatians 4:4 NIV

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

All that was going on in a geo-political, religious, and governmental way in the region.

But also, the Romans built a highway system the world had never seen before.

And exportation system w/ ports connecting every major population hub in the world.

A military that was powerful enough to bring peace to the middle east so that anyone could travel throughout safely.

So many had lost hope that the promise to Abram, that had been repeated so many times, would be kept.

No one expected what was about to happen.

In a world that had seemingly been forgotten by God, He sent Gabriel to speak to a young girl in Nazareth.

Gabriel made a remarkable promise to this young girl.

The people were in place

Luke 1:26–33 NIV

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Today, everyone in the world know’s Jesus’ mother’s name.

A young, 13, 14, 15-year old girl, engaged. Could have been from anywhere, except it has been predicted in Nazareth.

No one in the world had felt like God was w/ them for a very long time.

You will call Him Jesus. He will be great…His reign will never end.

Every single nation on earth has been blessed through Abram, now.

Israel did become a light to the Gentiles.

10’s of thousands make a pilgrimage annually to the place where Jesus first showed up 2000 years ago.

The Jewish God is worshiped throughout the world b/c that’s who we worship. Our God is the Jewish God, the One True God.

The narrative recorded in the OT, the history of the Jewish people is the incubator that birthed the One whose reign will never end.

For a long period of time it seemed like God was uninvolved but the plan was in place and being carried out.

It began w/ Abraham and Sarah.

Many became a footnote in story of the Jewish carpenter who became the Savior of the world.

Herod, Pilate, Barrabbas, kings from the East.

Everyone knows Mary. Many know Joseph.

Those who know Jesus are saved and believe the story of a remarkable promise that was made to a young girl that began with an unbelievable, inconceivable, almost impossible promise that was made to an old man.

Either way, God keeps His promises.

Applications

God is active

God is active even when it seems like He isn’t.

All those years when it seemed like God had left Israel to fend for themselves.

And, yet, His plan played out perfectly and everything worked out just like He said it would.

All those days it can seem like God has left you to fend for yourself.

There is a plan. There is a process. It will work out.

God is not silent

God is not silent even when is seems like He is.

Israel endured periods w/ no burning bushes, no prophets, nor appearances by the Lord.

They had to wonder if God had forgotten them, changed His mind.

Every time they wondered if they were ever going to be a great nation all they had to do is remember the promise God had made Abram.

God has spoken. He is speaking. He will speak again.

He uses and economy of words and rarely repeats Himself.

Listen when He speaks and remember what He said.

It’s will happen.

God can be trusted.

Even in circumstances to the contrary God can be trusted.

How bad did it get! They had to wonder.

So God promised.

How bad can it get for us? A lot worse.

But God will keep every promise He has ever made.

It didn’t promise us and easy life.

In fact, the opposite. He promised we’ll have trouble.

But, by believing in Him, in the stories of Christmas and Easter, we will overcome our trouble b/c Jesus has overcome the world.

Who needs this?

Who needs Christmas? the world did.

And, we are part of this world.