The Gift that keep on giving!!!

Luke 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

INTRODUCTION

Good morning! When I think about Christmas, it’s bring a lot of memories to my mind like: gifts, Christmas trees, lights and Christmas movies.

If you notice I started my memories list, with gifts and end it with movies.

One of my favorite Christmas movies is Christmas vacation. And there’s part in the show that is not the greatest because of the words, it is about a Christmas bonus and it was a gift card for the jelly of month club. A gift that keep on giving.

SHOW THE VIDEO ( JELLY CLUB)

Christmas deals with a gift that keep on giving and mankind don’t understand or don’t care. Let’s look at this story.

A clear night sky, peaceful shepherds watching over their flocks at night, a peaceful town called Bethlehem at the outskirts of the big city Jerusalem, joyful angels singing with beloved shepherds below listening, a kind of holiday atmosphere everywhere.

Joseph and Mary lying comfortably next to the baby Jesus on a bed of straw while animals peacefully stroll around, the world is full of joy ... and ... and ...WAIT A MINUTE!

This isn't the real story of the times, this is 21st century Christmas pageant stuff, the real story and the real world of that day was more like this:

Terrible political unrest, politicians were hated and not trusted! They were corrupt! There were moves to "throw the bums out of Jerusalem!"*

Overspending by big government had caused huge new taxes to be created, that was the need for Joseph and Mary to travel back to register for another round of new taxes!

The average wage earner couldn't keep a decent standard of living any more!* The religious institutions were getting more and more involved with politics instead of meeting the spiritual needs of the people!

Divorce was a common problem, almost at the 50% mark!* Abortion was common, dead babies often seen floating through open sewer lines in the cities!*

The court system was corrupt, criminals were constantly going free on technicalities!* Nations were constantly redrawing their boundaries, there was a nervous peace around the world, especially in the Middle East.*

The educated were denying miracles and the supernatural, they believed that science and technology were the best hopes for mankind and the future!

The disparity between rich and poor was getting greater and greater all the time.This is hardly the picture of that first Christmas most people have today!

Even the healthy religious people of that day were losing hope that the Messiah would ever come, they had been saying this for hundreds of years now and it had not yet happened!

In the midst of all this turmoil and hopelessness God makes His appearance in human flesh, baby Jesus!

The Bible shows us the love of God in sending forth His only son to those who will come and worship Him.

Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

It came to pass in THOSE days: The times were not much like the pageant plays of Christmas today!

Crimes rates were high and jobs were hard to find. Racial tensions ran high.

People were religious but their faith had little practical expression.

It was anything but a calm peaceful time! No one trusted the government, especially Herod.

Only a handful of people celebrated the first Christmas, the rest of the world went about its normal business not even aware of the birth of Christ.

The general population was busy trying to deal with the new taxes.

Tensions in the Middle East were at a boiling point. The general population had lost faith in the supernatural.

Luke 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

Luke 2:5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

Luke 2:6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

Luke 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

For Joseph and Mary it was anything but peaceful!

Mary was pregnant but not married! At that point in history this meant a lifetime of poverty and rejection, possibly even death!

Since abortion was common, the pressures were there to consider this.

Traveling by donkey while 9 months pregnant wasn't even a safe thing!

Timing for traveling while ready to give birth couldn't have been worse!

They were already poor but now had to come up with more taxes!

Joseph was being asked to believe in Mary's fidelity, although no woman in history had ever gotten pregnant before while still claiming to be a virgin!

Luke 2:7 tells it like this: “So Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a son.

She wrapped him in cloths [or clothes] and placed him in a manger.

A manger is simply an old English word for a feed trough. That’s all it is.

It’s a bucket or a basket or a box, a wooden box that you would put grain in for cows and donkeys and other livestock.

So when Mary lays her baby in a manger, it’s not something fancy; it’s a feed box for cattle.

It’s about as humble a birth as you can have. She places him in a manger…] because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Now from the innkeeper’s perspective this is actually a good thing because his business is booming. If you own a motel you want it sold out.

You want no vacancy. You don’t want empty rooms every night. The Inn Keeper thinking, “This is good.”

Business is good.This is going good. They’re having the census. A lot of out-of-towners have come back to town and they’re looking for a place to stay. And he’s all booked up. So it’s good news for him.

He has no use for this little baby or this pregnant woman. And he certainly has no idea who he is snubbing.

The point is this: Busyness with his own business caused him to miss the greatest opportunity in his life.

The Son of God was going to be born in his inn. Can you imagine the PR power of that?

You could put up a sign: Son of God born here! And you would be sold out in your inn for the rest of your life.

He missed – literally – the greatest opportunity. God was coming to earth in human form.

He could have been a part of that. He could have been a part of that history. But he missed it because he was busy with his business.

Are you too busy with your business to make room for Jesus this Christmas?

I’m not talking about your house. I’m talking about your schedule. I’m talking about your thoughts. I’m talking about your time, your budget, your plans.

Are you so busy with everything else you don’t have any room?

There’s no room for Jesus in your life, in your heart, in your mind.

You could be so busy Christmas time you miss meeting God and he is being born right next door in the stable and you aren’t a part of it.

That’s the first reason people miss out on the gift that keep on giving – busyness.

Familiarity. What I mean by that is you’re so familiar with the Christmas story that it doesn’t inspire you anymore. It doesn’t cause any awe any more.

It doesn’t amaze you anymore. You’ve heard it all before. You have celebrated Christmas your entire life. You know the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus.

You know the story of the shepherds and the wise men. You know the story of the angels singing glory to God in the highest. You know. You’ve been there, done that. I know the story; I know the songs, I know the traditions.

So I’m jaded. I’m bored. I lack enthusiasm. And really my whole attitude toward Christmas is Oh, hum!

You can become so familiar with something it doesn’t amaze you anymore. You miss the beauty because you think you understand it. And you take it for granted. You see it but you don’t do anything about it.

This mistake, the mistake of familiarity, was the mistake of another group of people the first Christmas. That is the religious leaders of Jerusalem.

It is interesting to me that God has come to earth in human form, the Son of God is being born, and not a single religious person is invited. I kind of like that. Not one. Not one religious authority.

Not one priest, one scribe, one theologian, one philosopher, none of them. None of them are invited to the party. They all missed it. And they all missed it because they’re so familiar with the story.

Matt 2:4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

Matt 2:5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

I want you to notice some interesting things about that passage. A lot of people in Israel at this time were familiar with what was about to happen. They knew.

They had been waiting for hundreds of years for this Savior of the world to be born. He had been promised and they had been waiting and waiting and waiting.

They knew exactly where he was going to be born; they said, Oh yeah, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world will be born in Bethlehem. Everybody knew this. They knew all the details.

They were very familiar is what I’m talking about, with this, they’re unimpressed. They’re unconcerned. They’re talking about it but they don’t care enough to go check it out themselves. They’ve seen it all before.

The king calls the religious scholars in for an emergency meeting. Yet none of them cared enough to even go to Bethlehem and check this out.

Do you know how far Bethlehem is from Jerusalem? Five miles. The religious scholars wouldn’t even go five miles to check it out. They were so familiar with the story.

And they were so into all of their debating and theology they wouldn’t even bother to check it out for themselves. They would rather debate about the Savior than go see the Savior.

The second reason people miss out on the gift that keep giving and giving is familiarity.

Also it is a sad fact that some people actually fear the gift that keep giving and giving! They’re afraid of it. That’s why they fight it. They fight Christmas.

They fight the nativity scene. It’s why they oppose it. It’s why they do lawsuits against it. Because they’re afraid of the message of Christmas.

Matt 2:9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

Herod is a very wily, crazy guy. He’s the king of Israel. But he’s actually a Roman citizen.

And he’s of Arab decent. So he’s not Jewish. He had come in and overtaken the city of Jerusalem and appointed himself as king. And the Jews hated Herod. They hated him.

He was given the title king of the Jews and he was an Arab, working under Roman authority to suppress the Jews.

The background of Herod is this. He was paranoid. He was a very crazy, literally crazy, sick crazy man. He was afraid of Christmas because he was afraid of anybody who might threaten his kingdom, who might threaten his reign, who might depose him as king of the Jews.

He was so paranoid – let me explain this – anybody who got close to him he thought might overthrow him, he had that person killed.

He had his wife killed because he thought she might overthrow him. He had his mother killed because he thought she might overthrow him.

He had two of his sons killed early on in life because he thought they might. He had his brother-in-law killed.

Five days before Herod died he had the rest of his children who were in the area killed because he didn’t want any of them to succeed him.

And he had all kinds of prominent Jews in the nation of Israel rounded up and put in prison.

And he said the moment I die I want you to kill all of them because I know that when I die nobody’s goings weep over my death.

But when they die people will weep so at least somebody will be weeping on the day I die. He was nuts!

When the wise men show up from wherever it is – India or China or wherever – when the wise men show up and say, “Where is this baby born to be king of the Jews?”

He goes nuclear. He is just going crazy going, we’ve got to find this guy because I’m not letting anybody take my place.

You don’t have that kind of fear. But I know a lot of people who are afraid to get to received the gift that keep on giving and giving .

They have three fundamental fears in their heart.

If I really open up my life to Christ I will lose my freedom and I can’t do all the things I want to do.

I will lose my fun; I won’t get to do anything fun anymore.

And I will become a fanatic; I will walk around act like some religious nut case.

When you invite Christ into your life he doesn’t make you more religious. He makes you more human.

Saint Irenaeus said “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”

You’re not really living… you’re just existing if you’re not connected to the Creator who made you.

The bottom line is this, you were made by God and you were made for God. And until you understand that your life is never going to make sense.

Fear is the third thing that will cause you to miss the true meaning of Christmas this year.

The only way to make sense out of this life is to received the gift that keep on giving and giving, and that gift is the baby that there was no room at the inn, the religious people were too familiar, and people that fear that they would lose everything if they received the gift.

Rom 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)