Christmas Eve

Intro

Luke 2:1-20 NLT At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.

6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” 15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

I read this for Christmas Eve year after year and it never gets old for me. There is something about hearing this Christmas account as it is recorded in the word of God that is special.

The whole story...

A young couple on a journey to the place Jesus would be born.

The adversity they faced as they traveled and the fact that there was nowhere for them to stay and it just so happens she goes into labor.

Then there is the manger scene.

Don’t forget about the shepherds and the angel the appears and spoke to them.

And if you have been here the last several weeks you know that we have been talking about this moment in time and how it is the single most significant moment in history. The moment God would come into his creation to fulfill a promise to restore everything that sin had destroyed.

But this evening as we consider the magnitude of it all, I want to take some time to also consider how this whole night started, and it was the result two people, Joseph and Mary and their unwavering faithfulness that led to this moment that are celebrating tonight.

Power in the Text

I mean what was so special about Mary and Joseph anyway? Why pick them?

You may recall how it all started. Remember Mary and Joseph were an engaged couple, they weren’t married quite yet.

Luke 1:26-38 NLT 26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.” 38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.

So we need to remember that Mary at this point was not a married woman. She was engaged to be married but she wasn’t married yet. And now she finds that she is going to be pregnant. And not just with any child, but the son of God.

You need to understand that this was not 2021. It isn’t uncommon to see women pregnant out of wedlock like it is today. At this time, especially because she was engaged, Joseph would have been within his legal rights to have Mary stoned to death.

Though they weren’t married, an engagement at this time carried the significance of a marriage without the intimacy piece. In other words, she could have been charge with adultery.

So this is Mary’s experience. An angel appears, says all of these things and now she is left to face Joseph who let’s face it, isn’t likely to believe she is pregnant as a result of the Holy Spirit and not another man from her village.

But let’s look at Joseph’s experience.

Matthew 1:18-24 NLT 18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ” 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.

So we see that just as one might suspect, Joseph believed Mary to have been unfaithful. But he doesn’t want to see her punished or disgraced publicly. So instead he was just going to end things quietly.

However, like Mary, Joseph had an encounter with an angel, this time in a dream and he explained everything.

Joseph accepted this truth and went forward with marrying Mary.

Big Idea/Why it Matters

Now, we read this and we think alright, they lived happily ever after and everything was better for everyone, wrong.

Remember, people knew Mary and Joseph were engaged, but not married. They also would have seen that she was pregnant. So they would have begun to put two and two together and accuse the two of them of being intimate outside of marriage, which would have been a violation of God’s word.

Joseph and Mary would have had to defend their honor and reputation on more than one occasion. There would have been no escaping it. Yet despite all of it, they remained faithful.

I asked this at the beginning. What was so special about this couple anyway? For the most part they were a couple of nobodies.

They had no influence and family name to rely on. They didn’t have a ton of money, nor were they important figures in their community.

For the most part Mary and Joseph were just two normal people, living two normal live, who had it not been for Christmas would have faded into the annuls of time, never to be given a second thought again.

But one thing they were was ordinarily faithful. They loved God and had a willingness to do his will.

God used the ordinary faithfulness of Mary and Joseph to make way for Jesus’ entrance into the world.

God had a plan, his plan seemed anything but a plan. Two people stranded in a city that they did not live in, unable to find an inn to stay in and Mary goes into labor.

What kind of plan is that? One where they make a makeshift maternity room in a stable. and a basinet out of a manger/feeding trough.

One where they make a onesie out of strips of old used linen.

This doesn’t sound like a plan. But what if all along the was part of the plan

We know Jesus today as the lamb of God whose sacrifice took away the sin of the world.

But prior to him was the day of atonement where each year the high priest would sacrifice an innocent lamb for the sins of Israel.

And interestingly enough, the town of Bethlehem was surrounded by fields that were used for one special purpose. To raise the lambs that would be used on the day of atonement.

These lambs weren’t raised anywhere else. How interesting that this would be the place that Jesus too would be born.

Second, when these lambs were born they would be wrapped in swaddling cloths and placed in mangers where they would await examination by the priests.

Once they were examined they would pick the most perfect lamb without spot or blemish and then lead it to Jerusalem where it would be sacrificed.

Do you think it was an accident that Jesus was born where he was or that he too was wrapped in swaddling cloths and placed in a manger?

The shepherds knew exactly where to go to find him when the angel told them they would find in swaddling cloths in a manger because they had been taking their lambs there for this very purpose their entire lives.

Nothing about what God did on Christmas was an accident. Every detail of the story had a reason, even choosing two ordinary people to be a part of it.

There is a lesson in this. He always has a plan, and he wants you and I to be a part of it. We may not feel like we have much to offer God, but He can use our daily faithfulness to reveal His glory to others.

God wants to use you where you are this Christmas. Trust that he knows better than we do what we are capable of.

Christmas is a reminder of this couple’s faithfulness. And even more so, the faithfulness of God.

Candle Lighting

When Jesus came 2,000 years ago, he set a spark, a flicker of hope for a dying world. And that flicker of hope set off a chain of events that has changed the world.

John describes what was happening in the spiritual world when Jesus was born in the physical world.

John 1:1-13 NLT In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. 6 God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him.11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

Light candle.

Jesus is the light John is describing here. When the world was at its darkest, and when it seemed as if sin had won and God had lost, the light came to expel the darkness.

Paul put it this way in Romans 5:6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

And the light that Jesus brought didn’t leave with him when he went back to heaven, but rather it stayed and with each new believer the Holy Spirit began to spread from one person to the next and that light began to multiply.

Sing Silent Night as the candles are lit.

Just as it is today, with each candle being lit in this room. Jesus said in Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

What good is a light if you cover it up or refuse to let it shine? Darkness though it seems oppressive and all consuming, is really quite weak compared to light.

For even the smallest of flame can be seen in the darkness, in fact it can never get so dark that the darkness overcomes the light. The only way the darkness takes over is when we extinguish our light. Blow them out.

We are the light, wherever we go, the light goes with us when we allow it to shine. Don’t cover your light, don’t blow it out by the choices you make. Rather let it shine brightly because the world is lost without it.