Unexpected Birth

INTRODUCTION

Dumb question i know, but Have you ever had anything unexpected happen to you?

This week I had something unexpected happen to me, and it happened at China king.

This is not about food poisoning, so let’s get that out of the way.

I love China King. I go there at least 1-2 times a week, and I get their orange chicken lunch/dinner special depending on the time of day.

But one day something unexpected happened, I got this fortune cookie.

And this week we start a series called unexpected.

Now we are familiar with the unexpected here at Cornerstone.

We even talked about this my first Sunday here.

We talked about Unexpected change, and what we need to do with unexpected change is change our perspective.

But this series I want to look at the life of Christ.

As Collin and I were looking at Jesus’ life and looking at this series, we came up with calling it unexpected.

Because here is the reality, there were a lot of expectations set on Jesus.

The Jewish nation expected him to show up in a certain way which we will talk about today.

They also expected him to live a certain way, which collin will talk about next week.

And they expected him to leave in a certain way, which we will talk about on Easter Sunday.

There were so many expectations put on Jesus, yet Jesus lived an unexpected life.

I know that’s a little confusing since it’s april, and easter is in a couple weeks, but we wanted to do a series of Jesus from birth to resurrection.

Which means we have to start with his birth, but honestly who doesn’t love Christmas right?

So with that being said, Merry Christmas Everyone!

And I think it is so fitting for us to dive more into a topic like the unexpected, and look back at Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, and see how all of those were truly unexpected.

Because here is the reality Jesus showed up and continues to show up in unexpected ways.

BIBLE

So let’s talk about how Jesus showed up in an unexpected way.

Now I want to clarify, when we are talking about Jesus’ unexpected life, I’m saying it was unexpected for the people on earth.

Everything we will be talking about was within the promises of scripture, as well as part of God’s plan since the beginning.

It’s not like God had to continue to pivot and change things based on how the earth was going.

God was in control the entire time, and is still in control.

But for us on earth, and for those back in the time of Jesus’ life on earth, there were a lot of unexpected things.

For example, The Pregnancy was unexpected

Luke 1:26-34

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

Three unexpected things I want to point out in this section.

First, We have to remember that Jesus is not part of God, Jesus is God.

When Jesus came to earth as a human he was both fully man, and fully God.

Which means the creator of the universe, the big God we have been talking about these last few weeks, came as a helpless baby.

John 1:1-5 says.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.

Do you remember your first time holding a baby?

How scared you were of breaking the baby

How much in that moment, you realized how fragile a baby is?

God almighty, creator of the universe and in control of all that is within it, came to earth, as that fragile, little, baby.

God came to earth, born as a baby, and fully reliant on humans to keep him safe.

To help him get the right nutrients to grow

To help him learn how to walk to help him survive in the world.

The God of the universe unexpectedly came as a tiny, fragile baby.

The other thing that I find insane here is like we said Jesus is the savior of the world. God came to earth as human, for the purpose of our salvation.

There were millions of Jews who knew the messiah was going to come one day, because it was part of their tradition to memorize the scriptures, and At this point, the only people that knew about it were Joseph and Mary.

How crazy is that? How unexpected is that?

The last thing I want to point out is Mary was definitely not expecting this.

But this was fulfilling what was prophesied about in Isaiah 7:14

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you[c] a sign: The virgin[d] will conceive and give birth to a son, and[e] will call him Immanuel.

But Mary was not expecting a visit from the angel Gabriel, and she wasn’t expecting for that visit to end with the new, you’re going to have a baby.

Mary was a virgin, so when an angel appeared to her and said, “congrats you’re going to have a baby” she said, no way, that’s impossible.

But one of the things I love about God is, Impossible things are made possible through him.

Mary didn’t expect to be used by God, yet God chose her to bring the savior of the world into the world.

And this week, I have been reminded of the fact that God doesn’t need us, yet he chooses to use us.

So where in your life does God want to use you?

Because scriptures are clear that even though he doesn’t need you, God wants to use you, but the reality is it will probably come with an unexpected change in your life like Mary experienced.

Maybe that’s a change in mindset

Maybe that’s a change in friend groups

I don’t know what that change is, but Mary was not expecting this change in her life, but this was her response.

Luke 1:38

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

I hope that can be our response when the Lord calls us.

The birthplace was unexpected (unexpected plan change)

Luke 2:1-7

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

There are two aspects of this that were unexpected for Mary and Joseph.

First, I doubt they expected to go on a 90 mile journey to Bethlehem while Mary was pregnant.

But this wasn’t unexpected to God.

This too was a fulfillment of the prophecy in Micah 5:2

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans[b] of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

God knew where Jesus was going to be born, but for Joseph and Mary it was completely unexpected.

But the second thing that was totally unexpected with where Jesus was born, was he was born in a stable.

Now according to what the traditional stable would have looked like in this time frame, it would have been more like a cave that they used as a shelter for the animals.

Which means, now only were they dealing with animals, and animal feces, but they were dealing with the dark nastiness of a cave.

Talk about not the ideal situation for a baby to be born in.

Ex. my conversation with John and Marie

Having a baby in a stable was not the ideal, it wasn’t where Joseph and Mary wanted to be, but it was the unexpected situation God had them in.

So my challenge I have been wrestling through with this passage is, what am I going to do if I get put into an unexpected situation?

I love this quote I read this week from a guy named Derrick Tuper.

“When we find ourselves in unexpected situations we have choices to make. We can do one of three ‘P’s:Panic, pout, or press on.

The shepherds receiving the birth announcement was unexpected (unexpected people)

Luke 2:8-18

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

APPLICATION

What ways have you been expecting God to show up in your life?

What ways might he be already showing up?