A Christmas Present for You- Luke 2:1-20
Pray- Luke 2:1-20 "The Christmas Story- A Present for You"
Read
Luke 2:1-20
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 Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his 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 room for them in the inn.
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 of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ 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, and on earth peace to men 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. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Why are we here?
I mean, REALLY, why are we here today?
Why did we gather in this place and time? To do what?
What’s the point? What will we accomplish by being here today?
What are we doing?
We have all heard the story before- some of us know it by heart- and surely we could read the story at home or catch a TV preacher- but we came here to this place, this day, this hour, all of us folks came for something.
We have expectations of something happening
Expectations- that’s a good word
I wander what the shepherds were expecting when they punched in on the time clock that evening
Maybe they were expecting a wayward lamb or two- if it was a bad night maybe a predatory animal- would be nearby.
Mostly they were probably expecting their normal, everyday life to have one more average night- but that night was anything but average-
They were visited by God’s messengers- by angels- they knew this message was from the Lord.
What a peculiar message- a savior has been born, Christ the Lord- and you will find this baby savior in Bethlehem, lying in someone’s manger.
You don’t expect to hear news like that everyday.
The shepherds didn’t expect to meet the christ-child that day
They didn’t expect to meet him, let alone see him lying in a manger.
A manger? Really, a manger? Was Mary too exhausted to hold him the whole time- was Joseph too exhausted from travel and such- was he afraid of holding babies- No- I don’t buy things, from the text we don’t know- all we know, all we have are the words, "a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Luke chose to emphasize the manger. I am sure he could have said, "and Mary will hold him in her arms." But what is different about that, than almost every other mother- every mom holds their baby.
Why did Luke emphasize the Manger? Laying there in a feeding trough, was the babe of Mary
The savior of the world
A remarkable story for the shepherds to pass on to their friends and family
We still gather today to hear this history- changing story.
That’s what we are doing here today
God is in the business of changing people’s expectations
- Because of the baby savior in the manger- we know to not trust our expectations
- Things can turn out different than we expect
- People can change- even though we expect them not to change
God is in the business of feeding the world
- God laid there in a feeding trough.
- This same Jesus who called himself the bread of life, who said, (John 6:51)
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
- His mother and his earthly father, Joseph had no idea of what was in store for baby Jesus
- But Father God knew- Jesus would become food for the whole world. His body and his blood would sustain thousands of years of faithful followers
God is present with Us today
- I pray for all of you the excitement of re-discovering Jesus
- Illustration of Danny opening a present
- The Savior was born for YOU- for YOU
Read
Luke 2:1-20
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 Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his 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 room for them in the inn.
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 of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ 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, and on earth peace to men 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. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Why are we here?
I mean, REALLY, why are we here today?
Why did we gather in this place and time? To do what?
What’s the point? What will we accomplish by being here today?
What are we doing?
We have all heard the story before- some of us know it by heart- and surely we could read the story at home or catch a TV preacher- but we came here to this place, this day, this hour, all of us folks came for something.
We have expectations of something happening
Expectations- that’s a good word
I wander what the shepherds were expecting when they punched in on the time clock that evening
Maybe they were expecting a wayward lamb or two- if it was a bad night maybe a predatory animal- would be nearby.
Mostly they were probably expecting their normal, everyday life to have one more average night- but that night was anything but average-
They were visited by God’s messengers- by angels- they knew this message was from the Lord.
What a peculiar message- a savior has been born, Christ the Lord- and you will find this baby savior in Bethlehem, lying in someone’s manger.
You don’t expect to hear news like that everyday.
The shepherds didn’t expect to meet the christ-child that day
They didn’t expect to meet him, let alone see him lying in a manger.
A manger? Really, a manger? Was Mary too exhausted to hold him the whole time- was Joseph too exhausted from travel and such- was he afraid of holding babies- No- I don’t buy things, from the text we don’t know- all we know, all we have are the words, "a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Luke chose to emphasize the manger. I am sure he could have said, "and Mary will hold him in her arms." But what is different about that, than almost every other mother- every mom holds their baby.
Why did Luke emphasize the Manger? Laying there in a feeding trough, was the babe of Mary
The savior of the world
A remarkable story for the shepherds to pass on to their friends and family
We still gather today to hear this history- changing story.
That’s what we are doing here today
God is in the business of changing people’s expectations
- Because of the baby savior in the manger- we know to not trust our expectations
- Things can turn out different than we expect
- People can change- even though we expect them not to change
God is in the business of feeding the world
- God laid there in a feeding trough.
- This same Jesus who called himself the bread of life, who said, (John 6:51)
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
- His mother and his earthly father, Joseph had no idea of what was in store for baby Jesus
- But Father God knew- Jesus would become food for the whole world. His body and his blood would sustain thousands of years of faithful followers
God is present with Us today
- I pray for all of you the excitement of re-discovering Jesus
- Illustration of Danny opening a present
- The Savior was born for YOU- for YOU
posted by Palouse Fed. Church at 8:22 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home