Introduction:

The giving of gifts is not something mankind invented. God started the giving spree when He gave a gift beyond words, the unspeakable gift of His Son.

Every Christmas, we as Christians profess belief in the virgin birth of Jesus as the most important part of the Christmas story.

Christmas reminds us of the great truth of the Incarnation. The word “incarnation” comes from a Latin word meaning “enfleshment.” When we speak of the “incarnation of Christ,” we speak of the divine person of Christ taking upon Himself a human body with its human nature, thereby adding to His divine person a second nature.

Remembering this important truth about Christ and the gospel are critical to knowing who Jesus is. The fact that the Word of God clearly teaches the virgin birth, we celebrate Christmas remembering the birth of Christ and we marvel over the mystery of the Incarnation.

Matthew 1:18–25 NKJV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” 24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.

The Extraordinary Gift of Christmas

The extraordinary gift of Christmas is the miraculous virgin birth of a baby boy named Jesus.

The story of the virgin birth in Matthew forms the foundation for everything we know about who Jesus is. This truth is foundational for:

why we worship Him,

why we follow Him,

and why we proclaim Him to the nations

As Son of Man, Jesus is fully human

As the Son of Man, Jesus is fully human. He was born of a woman, so just like any other child; Jesus came as a crying baby boy. It was a holy night on the night of His birth, but it was anything but silent.

Jesus is like us physically in that He possesses a human body;

He grew and developed;

He was hungry;

He was thirsty;

He was tired;

He slept;

He was tempted;

He suffered;

and He died.

Jesus identified most distinctively with humanity through His death. However, Jesus is different from human beings in that His death was an act of free will and not the consequences of sin.

John 10:17–18 NKJV

17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

Why is this His incarnation so important? Because it means that Jesus is fully able to identify with us. Jesus can truly represent us before the Father.

He gave up His manifest deity (positional equality with God), but not His essential deity (as to His Person, Christ always was, is, and will be equal with God), not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Philippians 2:6–7 NKJV

6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

As we affirm Jesus’ humanity, in the very same breath we must acknowledge that as the Son of God, Jesus is fully divine.

As Son of God, Jesus is fully divine

God in His perfect wisdom and creative sovereignty, ordained a virgin birth to be the avenue through which Jesus Christ would come into the world.

God made a promise through the prophet Isaiah that was fulfilled seven hundred years later in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 7:14 NKJV

14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

The scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 12 were asking for a sign from Jesus when God had already given a sign through the Prophet Isaiah of the miraculous virgin birth of a baby boy in Bethlehem.

In our passage this morning there are two names given to the one born of a virgin that link Him to divine deity. In verse 21 Joseph was instructed to name the one born of the Holy Spirit Jesus.

Jesus means Jehovah is salvation. Jesus would save His people, His sheep from their sins.

Acts 4:12 NKJV

12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

And in verse 23 Immanuel means “God with us.”

This title refers to both His deity and His identification. God was manifested in the flesh and walked among us. God brought Himself near us.

Jesus Christ is one divine person with two natures, two natures that are indissolubly united but distinct. Isn’t it interesting that Christians have two natures, but we are one person.

Let me explain, a christians has the old and new nature. Nature should be understood as a capacity with a believer.

thus, the old man is interpreted as the former way of life, that of an unbeliever. In this sense, the christian has two competing capacities within them; the old capacity to sin and new capacity to resist sinning.

the unbeliever has no such competition within; he does not have the capacity for godliness because he has only the sin nature. That’s not to say he cannot do “good works,” but his motivation for those works is always tainted by his sinfulness.

However, the believer, on the other hand, has the capacity for godliness because the Spirit of God lives within them. They still have the capacity for sin as well, but they now have the ability to resist sin and, more importantly, the desire to resist and to live godly.

When Christ was crucified, the old man was crucified with Him, resulting in the Christian’s no longer being a slave to sin (Romans 6:6).

So, in many ways the incarnation is the most extraordinary gift in the whole Bible.

James 1:17 NKJV

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

God is the source of every good gift and every perfect gift, namely the incarnation of His Son which will prove to be the extraordinary gift of all times.

Ephesians 2:8 NKJV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Jesus Christ is not only an extraordinary gift that is celebrate once a year, He should be celebrated everyday of the year.

We celebrate Christmas remembering the virgin birth of Christ and we marvel over the mystery of God’s love for us that is embedded in His Son’s incarnation.

The greatest gift of all, the virgin birth of Jesus (Jehovah is salvation).

Romans 8:31–39 NKJV

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I want to read what Paul Tripp said about this passage from “New Morning Mercies.”

New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional December 25

Sit in front of your Christmas tree and read these words out loud to your loved ones so that you all will remember what the Christmas story is all about. Remember that Jesus willingly endured constant rejection and life-ending injustice so that you and I would experience the unalterable, unshakable, undefeatable love of God forever. Remember that he readily went unloved so that we would know constant love. Remember that he deserved to be loved, but was rejected so that we who deserve to be rejected would be eternally loved. Remember that he was willing to subject himself to the fickle and failing love of his followers so that we would know the faithful and unfailing love of the Father. Remember that he endured separation so that nothing could ever separate us from the Father’s love.

As you remember these things, remember this: if God was willing to give up his Son so that we would know his love, doesn’t it make sense that he will also with him give us everything else that we need? The promise of the Christmas story is unshakable love and every need met. Now, that’s worth celebrating!

The Extraordinary Gift of Christmas

Have you exchanged the true meaning of Christmas for something far far less!

How has the true meaning of Christmas, that is Jesus Christ, changed your life?

Remember, Jesus was despised and rejected in the here and now so you would have the Father’s love and acceptance forever. Now, that’s worth celebrating!

Pastor’s Prayer for the Church!

1)  "May the Lord bless you and keep you; may He smile on you and be gracious to you; may He look your way and give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26, author’s paraphrase)

2)  “May God give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” (Psalm 20:4, NIV)

3)  “May God be gracious to you and bless you and make His face shine upon you.” (Psalm 67:1, NIV)

4)  “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it, and may you be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (Ephesians 3:16, NLT)

5)  “May Christ make His home in your heart through faith.” (Ephesians 3:17b, GNT)

6)  “May your love abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God." (Philippians 1:9-11, NIV) 

7)  “May you be strengthened with all power, according to God's glorious might.” (Colossians 1:11a, NLT)

8)  “May you be filled with joy.” (Colossians 1:11b, NLT)

9)  “May the Master pour on the love so it fills your life and splashes over on everyone around you.” (1 Thessalonians 3:12, The Message) 

10)  “May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16, NIV)

Our gracious God and Father,

Thank you for the gift of prayer. It’s my prayer this morning that we as a church would believe in prayer. Not because it has any innate power, but because you’ve brought us into relationship with yourself and told us to pray. We acknowledge it’s not the act of prayer that does us any good but the object of our prayer. And we get to pray to you. We don’t pray to a cold and impersonal universe; We don’t plead the favor of petty little deities; we don’t try to arrange karma so it benefits us instead of harms us. We speak to a loving Father who created the universe and created us and began a relationship with us. You tell us that as our Father you love to hear from your children. You tell us you love to act on our prayers and act through our prayers.

So let us live as if prayer really matters. Let us worship as if prayer really matters. Let us not grow weary in this task. Let us believe that often the best thing we can do is not to act first, but pray first. Let prayer be our first instinct rather than our last resort. Let it be instrumental rather than supplemental to all we do and all we are. Let us be a praying church, first on Sunday as we gather together in corporate worship and then through the week as we gather in family worship and as we meet with friends and as we have times of personal devotion.

Please, Father, help us to pray. Help us make a priority of prayer and help us to see and celebrate answers to prayer. Give us confidence that our prayers matter not because we’ve found just the right formula and not because we’ve said just the right words, but because we know God and are known by God. Let us pray boldly, let us pray confidently, and let us pray constantly. Let us storm the gates of heaven through prayer. And let us pray until the day Christ returns. All the while let us be thankful for the precious gift you’ve given us in prayer.

Father, we want to offer you thanks for each person you’ve brought here this morning. We thank you that you continue to add to our number. I’m especially aware this week of those individuals and families who are new to Canada. We love to live in a city that has invited the world to join us. We love to see in this church such a sweet picture of what you’re accomplishing in this world by drawing people from all over the globe into your family. I pray that these people who are new to Canada would adjust well. I pray that they would come to love this country, and come to thrive here, and come to play a key role in your heavenly kingdom right here in their new nation. I pray that you would comfort them as most have left family and friends behind and I pray that their relationships with Christians here would be deep and meaningful. I pray that we, as their brothers and sisters, would welcome them in the name of our common Savior. And for them and others who are new to this church, I pray that they would join in to the life of this church, become members, and deploy their gifts and talents right here for the good of your people and the glory of your name.

Father, I thank you for this day and for the opportunity to worship you right here and right now. It’s my prayer that during this time we have together we would be able to set aside the concerns of daily life for a while, that we would be able to be fully present here and now in our minds and hearts. I pray that we’d be able to be still and know that you are God. We pray that you would equip Paul to preach the Word with power. We know that the power is not in him but in the Word. Preaching is only effective because the Word is effective. So let his words be consistent with your Word. Let his mouth speak what has come from your mouth. Let us be attentive and eager to hear, trusting that in preaching we are not just hearing the words of a man, but the truth of God. So I pray that we would set aside whatever distractions or concerns we’ve carried in here with us today, and let us listen and be changed. Let us be ever-more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

We pray all these things in his name. Amen.