Responding to the Lord Jesus

This Christmas I have geared my sermons toward the love, peace, and comfort we are to find in Jesus.

I want to bring one final Christmas message, but rather than speak again about some benefit the coming of Jesus brings into our lives, today I want to talk 3 responses to the birth of Jesus.

The Belligerent Response

Herod

Matthew 2:1–4 HCSB

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born.

He was a self consumed, harsh, and probably mentally ill ruler.

It is said that he made a decree that when he died, he wanted random people throughout the region put to death so that someone would be mourning on the day he died.

He could not stand the thought of someone other than himself being King.

He was in charge and had no plan to share the spotlight or give up control.

This fits a lot of people today.

They may not occupy some political office, but they think of themselves as the rulers of their own lives, and have no intention of giving that up.

And they see no need to surrender their lives to another sovereign.

Today we see this in the extreme.

Plenty of people who shake their fist at the thought of the God of the Bible. They can’t bide with the thought that God became a baby, grew as a perfect man, and died on the cross for the sins of the world.

They find it easy to scorn the Gospel than to let go of their sin and trust Christ.

But I doubt there are very many belligerent people here to day,

The greater likelihood is that you may fall into the next category:

The Apathetic Response

The Religious crowd

Matthew 2:5–6 HCSB

5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet: 6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah: because out of you will come a leader who will shepherd My people Israel.”

I have long been fascinated over how unmoved the religious crowd was to learn the THEIR Messiah had been born.

It just rolled off their lips. Christ will be born in Bethlehem. They didn’t have to think about it. They knew the FACTS. They knew their religious teachings. But they were unmoved at the thought of Christ having been born. As a matter of fact, all of Jerusalem was TROUBLED by the thought.

But unmoved.

It is POSSIBLE to know the story, but miss Jesus.

It is POSSIBLE to have heard the story over and over again and become cold to it.

You can know the story, spend all your time running around here and there to events, shopping, and parties, and not have time or interest to do what the 3rd group did.

The Worshipful Response

There were many who show up in the 1st few years of Jesus life.

There are the angels. We have talked about them a lot on Wednesday nights about their worship.

Luke 2:13–14 HCSB

13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors!

Let me just saw one thing about the angels as worshippers. When they show up in the shepherd’s field and worship, they are doing what they have been doing since the creation of the world. They could have been apathetic, but they are doing what they were made to do, and they are full throttle, no backing down.

Then there were the shepherds. Simple people. The lowly. The down and out. They listened to the announcement from heaven, and they went and worshipped Jesus.

Luke 2:20 HCSB

20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard, just as they had been told.

Then 8 days in there was Simeon and Anna in the temple, and God had spoken to their hearts about who Jesus was, and they worshipped Him. There story is recorded in Luke 2.22-38

And then later, the wise men.

Matthew 2:9–12 HCSB

9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen in the east! It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed beyond measure. 11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.

They came not to a baby, but a child. They came to a home. They brought gifts. And they worshipped.