Christmas in the Key of "C"
Notes
Transcript
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
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.
I love the Christmas season because it forces me to be reminded again of the depth of Christ’s condescension for a rebel like me.
The depth is infinite because my sin is infinite. And his righteousness is infinite because his value is infinite.
What a striking scene Luke captures with his pen. It’s filled with irony and theological beauty. There is Mary, the mother of Jesus, wrapping up the second person of the Trinity in swaddling clothes.
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.
The Son of God became the son of a virgin. The Creator comes to dwell among his creation.
The one who swaddled the stars with darkness (Job 38:9) is now clothed in cloth as a baby. Christ, the Lord God, becomes a man and dwells among us (John 1:14).
We cannot stare long at the manger before it begins to change. Informed by the rest of Scripture, we begin to see the looming shadow of the cross emerge upon it. Jesus was born to die (Matt. 1:21).
We see the baby here, swaddled in rags, but in due time he will be clothed in the rags of my demerit, my sin (Is. 64:6; 1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Cor. 5:21).
He did this so that we could be vested with his infinite merit (Rom. 4:4-5; 5:1; 2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus who was wrapped in the garments of humility dresses his children in the merits of his righteousness.
This Jesus will, by his perfect obedience, earn the everlasting righteousness that will be credited to people like me and you.
I have tagged this morning’s text Christmas in the Key of C. The key of C is the most common used key in music compositions and this morning’s truth’s are common and begin with the letter C. No new truths only more serious reflection on what we already know.
Christmas reminds us of our true condition.
Christmas reminds us of our true condition.
What is our true condition?
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Author Mark Twain received so many photos from men claiming to look like him that he composed this form letter to send out:
My dear Sir, I thank you very much for your letter and your photograph. In my opinion you are more like me than any other of my numerous doubles.
I may even say that you resemble me more closely than I do myself. In fact, I intend to use your photograph to shave by.
'Twain's humorous letter helps to illustrate a serious spiritual truth. When we hold the Bible up to our lives, the picture it gives us of ourselves is more accurate than what we see in the mirror, because the Bible shows us our hearts.
It shows us our true condition; we are helpless and hopeless.
Christmas reveals God’s charity.
Christmas reveals God’s charity.
God reveals his charity by condescending for our condemnation.
He reveals His love in His condescension.Condescend means to put aside ones dignity or superiority voluntarily and to assume equality with one regarded as inferior.
He gets inside our skin to get us our of sin. Instead of requiring ascension for salvation God takes on flesh and becomes the means of our salvation. Religion teaches man ascends the Hill of God through his works.
Christianity teaches that Christ through his works ascended the Hill of Death so that we could ascend the hill of God.
God doesn’t send judgment for our sin but Jesus as the propitiation for our sin. God, whom we sinned against, satisfies His wrath by sacrificing Jesus, in whom there was no sin.
Jesus condescension was not in response to our goodness but His being God. God loves the world because He is love not because there is something lovable.
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
God hates sin and those who sin because He is Holy. However, he loves those who sin and he proves this love by becoming human. He Incarnates Himself so that He can bear bear everything He hates about humanity so that His enemies can become His children.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Jesus, is the Kings of kings and Lord of lords according to
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Kings don’t condescend to rebellious subjects they condemn and crush them. King Jesus condescended not to crush rebellious subjects but to bear their curse and be crushed by them.
In Genesis 3 God said that the ground would be caused with thorns and thistles as a reminder of man’s rebellion. He went on to tell man’s Enemy Satan that he would bruise the heel of His Son and His Son would crush his head.
Jesus does not appear to crush sinners. He appears to crush the enemy of sinners
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
We see this astounding reality when Roman soldiers mock and scourge Jesus. They repeated “Hail King of the Jews” while they placed a robe and crown of thorns on His head. Don’t pass off this event as symbolic for it is the substance of the gospel message.
Ponder the profundity that the King of all majesty can down to be the victim of all mans misery.
How can our finite minds measure the descent of Christ when they cannot comprehend the distance from which he came.
However, we must pray for strength to comprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth of God’s love.
The world’s system of salvation teaches that god’s don’t become sacrifices they only accept them.
The Word teaches only God can pay for sin, for only God can forgive sin, so the God-man appears to reconcile the debt.
The Son of God became a man so that men could become sons of God. Christ became what we are that we so that we become what He is.
He is God with us so that we could be with Him. Jesus became Immanuel, God with us, on earth so that He can be our Immanuel throughout eternity.
You are more sinful than you ever thought you were and you are more loved than you ever dreamed you could be.
Christmas reinforces Christ’s claim.
Christmas reinforces Christ’s claim.
Anyone can experience Christmas
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
In an article in Fortune magazine, David Whitford wrote of the shocking discovery prior to his father's death that his dad had amassed a six-figure debt on high-interest credit cards.
There had been clues that his father was having financial problems, but when Whitford had tried to talk about it his father immediately changed the subject. “At one point,” Whitford writes, “he put his hands over his ears and made a humming noise.”
Yet two days after his father's death, Whitford found these words scrawled on his father's desk: “Help me. I'm drowning.”
Whitford's story illustrates a tragic reality. There is little we can do for those who refuse our help.
Anyone can explain Christmas
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew’s gospel begins by telling us that Jesus is Immanuel “God with us” (Matthew 1:23) and closes with Immanuel reassuring us of who he is when he says “I’m with you always” (Matthew 28:20).