The Hope of Christmas - Part 4 (Luke 2:1-20)

Announcement

Please remember that there is no Wednesday Bible Study and Prayer this week or next week. Instead, please join us for the following events:

On Christmas Eve at 7pm, please join us for Carols & Lessons in the Auditorium; we’ll follow that service with a dessert social in the Activity Room. If you can, please bring a dessert to share with everyone, it doesn’t have to be homemade, you can just pick it up from Weis or Hometown (or if you want, please feel free to make a dessert as well).

On New Year’s Eve, please join us for a celebration and fellowship opportunity starting at 7pm—I keep mentioning this, but I want to make it clear that you don’t have to stay the entire night. If you just want to come for an hour, hang out, and enjoy some food with us, but you really want to go home and sleep, feel free to do so; but if you do want to stick around, we’ll be here until midnight. We’ll have food and boardgames in the Activity Room; and we’ll have the ball drop on the screens in the Auditorium.

On January 2nd after the Sunday AM Worship service, please be aware that we’ll have a quarterly business meeting. All of our business meetings are open to the public, but I do ask that all our members plan to be here that Sunday for a brief update on the status of the church.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the LORD through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways for you to do so. (1) in-person giving can be done through the offering box at the front of the room. Or if you’d prefer, you can give via credit, debit, or ACH transfer either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) visiting us a gapb.church and selecting giving in the menu bar. Everything that you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Psalm 37:27-40)

Our Call to Worship this morning is the end of Psalm 37. Again, Psalm 37 is a psalm of David in which he writes of the need for Christians to wait on the LORD. Through the first eleven verses, David encouraged believers to quiet their spirit and rest completely on God; the second section encourages believers to not be discouraged by the seemingly prosperous lives of unbelievers, but to rely on God; and this section ends the psalm by encourager believers to take the long view. Don’t look at the temporal, but look for the eternal. Please join me in reading Psalm 37:27-40 responsively. I’ll read the odd-numbered verses; please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 37:27–40 ESV

27 Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever. 28 For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. 29 The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever. 30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice. 31 The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip. 32 The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death. 33 The Lord will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial. 34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off. 35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree. 36 But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found. 37 Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace. 38 But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off. 39 The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. 40 The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

Congregational Singing

Joy to the World

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Away in a Manger

Scripture Reading (Matthew 1:18-25)

Our Scripture reading this morning is Matthew 1:18-25, which is Matthew’s record of the birth of Jesus Christ. I’ve asked Natalie to read our Scripture reading and while she comes, let me encourage you to take note of two things in particular from Matthew 1:18-25: (1) notice that Matthew focuses on Jesus’ birth as fulfillment of prophecy and (2) notice the obedience of Joseph and Mary in a situation that seems completely out of their control and completely miraculous. Natalie, please read Matthew 1:18-25.

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Sermon (Luke 2:1-20)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Luke 2:1-20. As you turn there, let me give you a brief introduction:

Over the past month, we’ve been working on a series for Christmas titled The Hope of Christmas. And what we’ve essentially been doing is taken one of the primary themes utilized by churches that celebrate Advent and we’ve focused on that one theme through the entire Christmas season with the purpose of really understanding what hope means. Over the first two weeks, we utilized what may be considered unconventional passages to show our reasons for hope and what exactly it means that we can have hope. Week one focused on the fact that God wants to dwell with his people and it is that desire of God’s to dwell with his people that provides the initial concept of hope. We can have hope because God wants to dwell with his people. Week two focused on Isaiah 7, which was a prophetic statement concerning the coming Messiah. I explained that the passage contains two prophecies, with one being a shorter-term prophecy that was meant to validate the longer-term prophecy. Thus when the shorter-term prophecy occurred, the Israelites would realize that the longer-term prophecy was truly going to happen. We then realized that the fulfillment of the longer-term prophecy, which was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ, was then assurance that even longer-term prophecies would certainly occur—that Jesus will return to the earth, that he will take up his people, that he has prepared a place for those that genuinely believe, and that we can have hope in the future, because Jesus’ first advent assures us of his second advent.

Last week’s message was the first of our series in which our text was from the Christmas account in Luke. And in the passage for last week, we looked at Mary visiting Elizabeth and the response that Elizabeth and John the Baptist had towards Jesus, and Mary’s own song of praise. I explained that Elizabeth, Mary, and John were all responding to the eventual birth of Jesus; and they were responding with great praise because they had hope in what Jesus was going to do—despite the fact that they didn’t really know what Jesus was going to do. They were filled with praise in their whole being to the extent that they couldn’t help but to sing, worship, and glorify God.

This week’s message continues that account, with our focus being on the birth of Jesus, himself. And what we see in Luke 2:1-21 is that Jesus’ birth was in God’s control and his birth illicit an amazing response from all. This morning’s message will cause us to see the birth of Jesus as something that God planned completely and as something that should illicit an amazing response from us.

Let’s read Luke 2:1-20 together:

Luke 2:1–20 ESV

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 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, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 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. 8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts. (1) Vs. 1-7 is the Birth of Jesus Christ. We’ll see a series of different events that all line together to bring about the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, which shows us that God sovereignly utilized different events to bring about the birth of Jesus in a way that fulfilled prophecy. (2) Vs. 8-20, which is clearly the longer section of the passage, then shows us the response to Jesus’ birth from angels, shepherds, and even the response from Jesus’ parents. Both sections will hopefully allow us to see the birth of Jesus as something that God sovereignly and providentially brought to pass, which should show us the person who we should have hope in and it should cause us to respond to the birth of Jesus just like the shepherds, angels, and Jesus’ parents.

Prayer for Illumination

The Birth of Jesus Christ (1-7)

Now, I realize that this is a familiar passage for most of us, so let me encourage you to not look at it in that light. Don’t assume that you know everything about the Christmas account in Luke, but look at this with discernment and fresh eyes.

Vs. 1-5 opens up this chapter with the setting. “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.”

A decree would be a command or a law from an official and its clear that the idea of this law is for the people to be registered.

We typically call these censuses, in fact, we just completed a census a year or two ago, which helps us see what the purpose of this registration was. Leaders in countries utilize censuses to make decisions, in the first century it was utilized to make decisions concerning military service and taxes.

We know from historical data, that at this time in history, the Jewish people didn’t serve militaristically, they had exemptions from military service, so this is clearly a census concerning taxes.

The Bible gives us some other details that are of some note concerning the setting including who was in charge—at the time, most of what could be considered the “civilized” world was governed by Rome, and thus, it’s clear that Caesar Augustus is the emperor running Rome.

That would be why he has the authority to make a decree. The Bible also tells us that “This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.” Now, in the Old Testament, Syria was its own nation, but in this part of the New Testament, Syria is a part of the Roman Empire, thus, Syria is a region of the Roman Empire. So, Caesar Augustus is the one at the top, ruling from Rome; Quirinius was the regional leader ruling over the area that Joseph and Mary lived.

Now, you might hear those details and wonder why exactly the Bible is giving these sorts of details, and the reasoning for it is actually pretty simple—it adds validity to the account itself.

Without the name’s of the people involved, one could easily read the account and just think that this is just some fairy tale or story to tell the children, but by including the details of who was leading the nation, who made the decree for the census, and even who was ruling another country nearby, the Bible does two things: (1) it makes it clear that this isn’t just a story, it is an historical event that occured in the midst of other historical events and (2) it makes it easy to verify when this happened—you can look through history and look at the records of censuses being done and come to a rough idea of when this one occurred based on who commanded the historical census and who carried out the census.

This census is a little different in that it required each person to go to his own town for the census:

The idea meaning that they had to return to their hometown to take part of the census, which for Joseph is Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David. And Bethlehem is the city of David’s lineage.

Vs. 5, then tells us that Mary accompanied him to be registered with him as “his betrothed.” The Bible then reiterates the fact that she “was with child.”

Vss. 6-7 continues with that thought and tells us that she gave birth to this child in Bethlehem. “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 think what’s going on in vss. 6-7, is fairly clear. It’s clear that she was far along enough in her pregnancy that she gave birth to him while they were in Bethlehem, but there is something that I do want to point out, because the Bible itself points out the significance of this elsewhere.

Sometimes, when we think of the Christmas account we get caught up in the nostalgia of the season and the cutesy story of the Nativity that we have created in our mind and the cutesy image of the Nativity that greeting card companies print and TV shows emulate.

The issue is, that that image is usually entirely wrong: when we think of Jesus being born in a manger because the inn was full, we tend to still have a very clean, almost sterile idea of what this is like.

In reality, the word inn can be translated as guest room; that’s how its translated in Luke 22:11, when Jesus tells the disciples to go “tell the master of the house, The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”

So, instead of thinking of Mary and Joseph going to a hotel-like place, think of Mary and Joseph probably going to stay with someone that they already knew. It is Joseph’s hometown and thus, they were probably trying to stay with family or friends.

Keeping that in mind then eliminates the idea of there being an innkeeper that’s harshly turning them away, instead, you have to think of this in light of first century homes, in which most homes had two floors, the bottom floor where you would have a small living area, kitchen, storage, and a small area for animals; and the upstairs with the main bedroom and guest rooms.

With that in mind, the picture changes slightly—Mary and Joseph weren’t turned away from a hotel-like place, they arrived to the place where they were supposed to stay and found that the guest rooms were already full, but the owner of the home allowed them to stay in the part of the home reserved for the animals.

Of course, since this is where the animals lived, it would have been dirty, smelly, and not exactly hygienic, but this is where God chose for his Son to be born.

Not in the part of the home that guests would typically reside, not in the clean living area, but where the animals lived and slept.

Mary gives birth to Jesus and in vs. 6, we’re told that she “wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger.”

The wrapping of swaddling cloths was a normal thing to do with a new born in first century Israel. The fact that she did it herself is significant in that it tells us that they were alone.

When we think of mangers, we typically think of a cute wooden object with some hay sticking out of that, but that’s not what a manger typically was—manger’s in the first century were typically stone and they were feeding troughs. The animals would eat out of the troughs.

So, the reality isn’t as cleaned up as we typically think of it—its dirty, its filthy, its lonely, its humble—and that’s how God chose to send his Son into the earth.

Again, all these details seem like random details and events that are sort of just happening, with Joseph and Mary just sort of going on doing the things that they were supposed to do. But Paul makes a statement to the churches in Galatia that helps us see all these details and events correctly. “God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under a law, to redeem those who were under the law.” And when he introduces that idea he says, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent . . . his Son.”

The point being that God, who is absolutely sovereign and in complete control orchestrated all these different events and utilized all these different events for his Son to be born in Bethlehem, in the lineage of David, to a mother who hadn’t been married yet and thus, was still a virgin, in a town that wasn’t their home—so that his Son, could fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah and Zechariah.

Thus, when we read these details, that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the lineage of David, to his virgin mother, and then they wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, these aren’t just details to paint a cutesy image of the Nativity in our minds.

These are details that do two important, vitally important things—(1) these details prove that Jesus is truly the one that they were waiting for—he is the Messiah that is being sent by God; and (2) it shows us that it was all planned.

God intentionally utilized these details to make clear who the Messiah was and is; and he intentionally utilized these details in a way that shows us that it couldn’t have happened accidently, it had to have happened on purpose.

Jesus being born in that little village, in the manner of his birth, could have only happened if all the details lined up just right—and those details did line up just right because God was providentially moving and he was completely and utterly sovereign in every detail.

God who sovereignly controls all things, providentially brought Mary and Joseph into Bethlehem, and utilized the details of this event to bring about the birth of his Son in a way that depicts poverty, loneliness, and humility, which is the opposite of how someone would expect the Creator of all things to come to earth.

Robert Stein, “The irony of the most important event in history taking place in a manger should not be lost sight of; it reveals how God elevates the lowly and humble and rejects the proud and mighty of this world.”

It also reveals to us, the great extent and depth of God’s love for his people that Jesus would become fully man, and fully God to be born in such a humble place despite being the King and the Creator of all things.

After describing Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, it doesn’t take long for Luke to show us the response that people had for the birth of Jesus. And he does this by describing an event that happened to a group of shepherds in a field tending sheep and we’ll have to work quickly through these verses to see the full extent of what is going on in this passage. Let’s re-read vs. 8-20:

The Response to Jesus’ Birth (8-20)

Luke 2:8–21 ESV

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

The setting shifts just slightly as we read about some shepherds out in the field watching their flock.

And we can start by removing any romanticized idea that we might have about shepherds. Shepherds had a bad reputation during the first century, you can read about it in the writings of the Sanhedrin.

Because of their job, they weren’t able to observe ceremonial law, which meant they were considered unclean because of their job.

They had a reputation of being thieves who were unreliable and thus, they weren’t even allowed to give testimony in law-courts because everyone thought that they would lie.

James Edwards, “Along with gamblers and tax collectors, herdsmen were regularly listed among despised trades by [Jewish writings.]”

The fact that God chose to send a message of the birth of Jesus to people that were considered complete outcasts is telling. The shepherds were the very people that Jesus came to save, those that had been rejected and dejected by society.

The appearance of the angel to the shepherds is the epitome of “good news to the poor” (Is. 61:1).

Vs. 9, tells us “an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.”

The angel of the LORD in Scripture sometimes refers to Jesus himself, but since Jesus himself is laying in a manger in Bethlehem, it’s doubtful that this would be Jesus as well.

Luke 1:11, utilizes the expression “angel of the Lord” to speak of Gabriel, so it could very well be Gabriel again in vs. 9, but truthfully, the identity of the angel isn’t that important. The word angel is transliterated from αγγελος, which means messenger. So, who this messenger is isn’t as important as the message that he gives.

And it’s clear that whoever this messenger is, he is sent from God, because the Bible tells us “the glory of the Lord shone around them.”

The Bible elsewhere speaks of the glory of the LORD, Moses sees a part of God’s glory on Mount Sinai, Jesus during the transfiguration reveals part of God’s glory to some of the disciples.

It’s of note because seeing God’s glory isn’t something that a lot of people can say that they’ve done and the fact that these shepherds are seeing the glory of God as part of this message from an angel both elevates the importance of what had happened in Bethlehem and the nature of the message itself.

What the angel was about to say was of great value because what happened in Bethlehem was the most important event in history.

Recognizing that the shepherds were afraid, the angel says, “Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

You can only imagine how terrifying this event would be. Remember that the shepherds are tending to their flock by night and this is in the first century. They don’t have ambient light in the same manner that we do and they’re probably far enough away from Bethlehem that they can’t really see much of the ambient light from Bethlehem at all. If they have light at all, it’s from a fire that they built for themselves to stay warm.

And then suddenly an angel appears and God’s glory shines around them. Remember that God’s glory is bright, so bright that when Moses climbed back down the mountain the people couldn’t even look at him because the light from his face was too bright for them. It’d be almost like sitting in a completely dark room and suddenly someone flips the light switch on.

Everything is illuminated by God’s glory and an angel is there; and remember, angels aren’t these cutesy little fat babies with wings that we see in Renaissance art, they’re described as utterly terrifying beings. Of course, the shepherds are afraid.

But the angel tells them to not fear because he has good news of great joy for all people; and that good news is a Savior born in the city of David.

The sign that they’ve found the Savior will be that he’s wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, which again, showcases God’s sovereign control over all things because normally, a baby would never be laid in a feeding trough, and yet, that’s precisely where the King of kings and Lord of lords is.

This baby, that happens to be in the last place that a baby should be, is the Savior.

And that truth and that angelic message ends with a multitude of heavenly host praising God. Praising God is the proper response to the proclamation of the angel, to the good news, for the Savior.

Praise is the idea of giving thanks and joyfully recounting what God has done. It is the showing of appreciation for God’s works on our behalf. Praise is a part of worship, though worship goes much further than praise does.

In Scripture, praise is boisterous and joyful. The Bible tells us that all creation calls out in praise, when Jesus enters Jerusalem in Luke 19:40, he tells the Pharisees that “if people don’t praise God, even the ‘stones will cry out.’”

In this verse, there is a multitude of angels “praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

The multitude of angels are giving praise to God by giving glory to God—to give glory is the idea of extolling who God is—God is the highest, he is the most high and as such, he deserves all glory, all praise, all worship.

It’s important to note that when the angels speak of peace among those with whom he is pleased, they aren’t referring to peace between men, but rather, peace between man and God.

The secular world, when they hear carols that express this phrase think that the Bible is speaking about a general sense of peace between people, but the reality is that Jesus’ birth is the first step in bringing peace between God and man; thus, part of the angelic praise of God in this moment, is giving thanks for the reconciliation that’s going to happen between man and God because of Jesus.

They’re praising God because the birth of Jesus is the first step in fixing the relationship between God and man and the angels know this and they can’t help but to praise God for it.

Of course, anyone who sees something as amazing as a host of angels praising God and the glory of God itself; and anyone who has heard a message from an angel like these shepherds did, would want to go and check it out themselves. If you received good news like this, you would want to see what they’re talking about, and that’s precisely what the shepherds do: vs. 15, “When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.”

Which again, remember that the angel had just told them that the sign that they’re looking for is a baby laying in swaddling cloths lying in a manger.

The shepherds found the baby just as the angel had told them they would find him and knowing that this baby is the Savior causes the shepherds to respond in a way similar to how the hosts of angels responded.

Vs. 17, tells us that “when they saw [the baby lying in swaddling cloths in a manger], they made known the saying that had been told them concerning [the] child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.”

The shepherds couldn’t help but to tell the people what the angel had told them—and let’s be honest, anyone that would’ve experienced what they had experienced would have a difficult time not telling other people what they had experienced.

And just like the shepherds, the people wondered at all that the angel had told them concerning Jesus—that Jesus is the Savior, who is the anointed one, who will bring peace with those whom he is pleased. The idea of wondering is to marvel or to be amazed.

Vs. 19, tells us that “Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

Mary does something that none of the rest of the people did. The rest of the people are amazed and they’re marveling, but Mary does something different, “she treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”

She’s thinking about it, she’s reflecting on what all had happened. Luke 2:51, which fast forwards to when Jesus teaches in the temple, and his parents return to Jerusalem after they realize that he was missing. Mary says to him, “why have you treated us so?” Jesus responds by saying “why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them . . . And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.”

The implication is that in both these situations, Mary didn’t fully understand the implications of all that happened, so she treasures them and she reflects on them.

So Mary hears all that the shepherds had said and hears the report of the angel’s message, she treasured all this, and she retained it and pondered them.

The shepherds return to their jobs out in the fields, “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

Their response is the same as the angels, they give glory to God and they praise him for all that he had done and all that he will do through Jesus.

That last phrase, “as it had been told them” ends this section of Scripture by returning us full circle. They gloried and they praised God because of the fulfillment of what the angel had told them in the field.

There’s a lot that we worked through this morning as we worked through Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, but I don’t want you to leave this morning thinking, “wow, the birth of Jesus is such a nice story,” I really want you to be able to tie this into our Christmas theme of hope and be able to apply all that we’ve learned over the past month into your life today, but in order to do that, we do need to look at specific application for this passage first.

Application

Specific Application for Luke 2:1-20

Vs. 1-7, is a brief but important account of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. We’re told of all these different events and all of these specific details that all lead to Jesus being born in a small town by his virgin mother, and then him being wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger. Again, these are very specific details and they’re given with a purpose because it shows us how God utilized several different events and brought all things to the “fullness of time” for Jesus to be born in such a way that fulfilled multiple prophecies throughout the Old Testament. Jesus’ birth shows us the sovereignty of God.

Now usually, when we talk about the idea of God’s sovereignty, we don’t have a firm idea of what it means that “God is sovereign.” Many people today, have no idea what the word itself means, but whenever someone speaks about it, they just sort of nod their head in agreement.

So, let’s talk about God’s sovereignty. Sovereignty is the reign that one person or one nation or one government has over another person, another nation, or another government.

So in first-century Israel, Israel still had some modicum of power, but above them was Rome. Rome was the sovereign power over Israel—in our modern-day world, we live in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the church is in Centre County, in Philipsburg, Philipsburg is sovereign over us, to some extent; Centre County is sovereign over us and Philipsburg, to some extent; Pennsylvania is sovereign over us, to some extent; and the federal government is sovereign over us, to some extent. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that each sovereign entity has complete control over each other, which clearly, because of religious freedom, none of them have complete and utter control over our church.

However, in the case of God—all things are under his sovereignty. Colossians 1, speaks about this at length, Colossians 1:16-17, “all things were created [by him], in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authority—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

God is absolutely sovereign, meaning he is absolutely in control, and he reigns over all things.

Occasionally, I’ve heard well-meaning pastors tell their congregation that “they need to make Jesus Lord in their life.” And again, it’s well-meaning, but I don’t think they’ve thought that statement through very well. Jesus is already Lord over everyone’s life. Jesus is already reigning and God is already sovereign.

What they ought to say, is that you need to submit to Jesus as Lord over your life. Jesus is already Lord, its just whether or not you listen to him, obey him, and follow him.

So, the first application for Vs. 1-7 is that Jesus’ birth shows us the absolute sovereignty of God, so submit to him as the all-sovereign King in your life.

Your second application is this, because God is your all-sovereign King in your life, have hope. And I’ll get back to this application in our general application.

Vs. 8-20, then shows us the response of several different people to Jesus’ birth—we see angels praising God, the shepherds praising God, Mary treasuring up and pondering these things in her heart. All of these people, hear what God is doing through Jesus and they worship, they honor, and they praise God. This response to Jesus’ birth ought to be our response as well.

Occasionally, when you do something habitually, it’s easy to allow that habit to form and then view things as a ritual rather than as what they really are. This is part of the reason why we don’t partake in the Lord’s Supper weekly, it’s to prevent us from viewing it as just another ritual to get through, and for us to celebrate it in a meaningful way.

Well, for most of us, at least if we grew up going to the church, we’ve been celebrating Christmas for 20, 30, 40, or even 50 or more years. Every year, we slow our lives down just a bit, to reflect on Jesus’ birth and then we move on. For some of us, that’s become a routine and rather than worshiping, honoring, and praising God for Jesus’ birth, it’s just another part of the year. No big deal; life moves on.

But that isn’t how we should respond to Jesus, just like the shepherds, just like the angels, and just like Mary and Joseph, we ought to praise God, to worship God, to honor him because Jesus’ birth was and is significant. It is the first step to God bringing salvation to his people, and that’s worth us reflecting on every year, and that’s worth us worshiping God, honoring him, and praising him every day.

So, our particular application for this passage is that (1) you need to submit to Jesus as your all-sovereign King, (2) because he is all sovereign, you can have hope, he’s got it all under control, and (3) you ought to praise and worship God for all that he has done through Jesus Christ.

General Application for our Series

Now, to wrap up this series, let’s briefly talk about how we can apply this whole series to our lives—each week we’ve looked at very specific details from all throughout the Bible to talk about our theme of hope. And I don’t want to do a full run-down again, but let me just give you a sentence from each week to help you see how its been building:

Week one—You can have hope because God wants to dwell with his people; and his universal church is how he dwells with his people today.

Week two—You can have hope in God because God keeps his word and the first coming of Jesus proves that he will return simply because he keeps his Word.

Last week—You can have hope because of what Jesus has done, what he continues to do, and what he will do.

This week—You can have hope because God is in complete and utter control, he is sovereign.

Hope is the confident expectation in something or someone. Over this series, I’ve shown you multiple reasons as to why we can have hope in God through Jesus and I hope that I’ve given enough reasons for you to have more hope than what you did before. Now, you might ask, what should I do with all this hope?

Allow your hope to alleviate any fear, temptation, or struggle that your facing. Your God is greater than all these things if you truly believe.

Allow your hope to help you become rooted and grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ—use it to strengthen your belief in God.

And then, Allow it to well up inside of you and compel you to praise and worship Jesus.

Put simply, what we learn from Luke 2:1-20 and what we’ve learned in this series is that: (1) Jesus is your all sovereign king, so submit to him and have hope in him; and (2) allow that hope within you, to compel you to praise, to worship, and to honor Jesus.

The celebration of Christmas is meant to help you worship Jesus; and if you walk away from Christmas celebrating the extra time off work you get, the family and friends that you get to spend time with, or the gifts that you’ve received; but you never actually worship, honor, and praise Jesus—you’ve completely missed the point. This Christmas, worship Jesus.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

O Come, All Ye Faithful

Emergency Prayer Request—Deane Hospitalized for Covid