The Christmas Story
Download MP3Invite you to open your bibles to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, we will begin reading in the first verse. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
Joel Brooks: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, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And 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. And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them.
Joel Brooks:And the glory of the Lord shown around them. And they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a 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.
Joel Brooks:You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on Earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. 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. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
Joel Brooks:And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned to glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them. And at the end of 8 days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Father, we ask that through your spirit, you would open up our hearts and minds to receive this good news about our Lord Jesus. About our Lord Jesus. Lord, may your your word work its way deep into our hearts and our souls. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your word remain and may it change us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Earlier this week, Lauren asked me what I was going to preach on. And I told her, I think I'm going to preach on Christmas consumerism, and I'm gonna use numbers chapter 11 for that. Numbers 11 is when the Israelites after they had been delivered from Egypt, and they're in the desert, God is taking care of them and he's giving them manna every day and the Israelites begin to grumble, saying, we don't want just manna, we don't want bread, we need meat.
Joel Brooks:They begin complaining saying that they want meat to eat. And God listens to them and says, you want meat? I'll give you meat. And so he has all this quail fly to them, lots and lots of quail. They are swarmed with quail.
Joel Brooks:By the end of the chapter, it says that that quail is coming out of their nostrils. And I told Lauren, I said, that is such a good picture of Christian or Christmas consumerism. Where people who are never satisfied with what God has given. We just want more and we just want more and more. And we spend our Christmases just kind of exhausting ourselves with getting every kind of gift, listening to all the different Christmas music.
Joel Brooks:We have fa la la las coming out of our nostrils. And Lauren just kinda looks at me like a good wife and says, well, you you could preach from that, or or just hear me out, or you maybe could just tell us the Christmas story. And so I'm going to do the boring thing and just tell you the Christmas story, the familiar Christmas story. There's nothing boring about it though. It's the greatest story in the world.
Joel Brooks:Probably been asked the question, so are you ready for Christmas? You ready for Christmas? And what people mean by that is, get ready for Christmas by preparing our hearts to receive the gift of Jesus. The gift of Jesus is the one gift that we receive that lasts forever. Don't get me wrong.
Joel Brooks:I like getting presents. I'm I'm very hard to shop for. I I get that. Pretty much every present my mom has given me for the last 10 years, I've just straight thrown away. I confess that.
Joel Brooks:Or or put in a garage sale, which she is later then bought back. When I was little, I can remember one really good Christmas, and I I remember getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning and running to the tree, and underneath the tree was the millennial falcon, Star Wars fans. And, I just, that was the best. My heart was literally bursting with joy. And then I opened up all these other presents and they were fantastic as well.
Joel Brooks:But I can remember after I'd opened up the last present, and I can't remember the age I was when when I got this, but I remember feeling this tinge of disappointment. There was a little bit of sadness as as I opened that up. And it wasn't because I didn't get what I want wanted. It was actually because I got everything I wanted. I I'd gotten everything I'd asked for, everything I had wanted that Christmas, and I found that I actually did want more.
Joel Brooks:And as a small child, I remember feeling this little bit of disappointment And I couldn't articulate what was happening. I didn't know exactly what it was, but I knew that I needed something that would last. Later, I would find that that something I needed was Jesus. The gifts that I opened up were just just a shadow. Jesus was the substance.
Joel Brooks:These gifts will pass away, but Jesus would endure for eternity. And I remember this even as a young age. And so what I want us to do this afternoon is I want us to be reminded of the gift of Jesus and what endures. And when I do that by looking at the most familiar story about his birth. Hopefully, we can see this with fresh eyes.
Joel Brooks:We could come to a new understanding, and then we can actually really be ready for Christmas. The story begins with a decree going out from Caesar Augustus. Caesar Augustus was the most powerful man in the world at this time. He was the adopted son of Julius Caesar and by by genius and sheer force, he had risen up through the ranks, and now he had become the ruler of the Roman world. And he actually had turned the Roman world, this Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.
Joel Brooks:If you could think back to your 7th grade history lessons, you might remember that his original name was Octavius, but he renamed himself Augustus, which means revered or holy. This was a title that was reserved only for the roman gods, yet he took it for himself. And the people did consider him to be godlike. We actually have inscriptions from this time calling Caesar Augustus, the savior of the world. Archaeologists have even found birthday invitations, proclaiming the good news of a celebration honoring the savior of the world's birth.
Joel Brooks:Does that sound familiar? Bringing good news, announcing a birth of a savior. Now, when Luke is writing this story, he he clearly he clearly wants us to see Jesus in stark contrast with Caesar Augustus. He wants us to see the power of Jesus compared to the power of Augustus. He wants to see the peace that Jesus brings compared with the peace of Augustus.
Joel Brooks:He wants us to compare the kingdom of Jesus with the kingdom of Augustus. We see in this text that Augustus power was so great, so great that he could collect tribute from even the the tiniest village on the remotest part of the Mediterranean. And this is how the story begins. Augustus, he commands that a census be taken. And the result of this is that a poor carpenter and his pregnant betrothed wife have to make a long journey over to Bethlehem, which was Joseph's hometown.
Joel Brooks:Picture Mary traveling on a donkey, yet no donkey is mentioned here. I I'd actually I asked my my children, this is what you do when you're a pastor. It's always Bible trivia. I said, all right, so did Mary ride on a colt, a mule or a donkey? And they're like, donkey.
Joel Brooks:And I was like, wrong. It doesn't say she wrote anything. It's what we do for fun or I do for fun. But Mary and Joseph were really poor. And there's actually a good chance that they didn't have the money for a luxury, like a donkey, and that Mary would have had to gone all 80 miles by foot.
Joel Brooks:It's no wonder she went into labor when she finally arrived. This is such a contrast with who Augustus is, who has seemingly endless power. And then there is this poor, insignificant couple. And when you read this, it certainly seems like Augustus is the one with all the power, and this young couple is nothing more than a pawn, some insignificant pawn that that he could do with whatever he wills. But this isn't the case at all.
Joel Brooks:God is in complete control of this situation. Augustus is his pawn. As a matter of fact, God's power is so great. His plans are so extraordinary and intricate that God could put it in the heart of an emperor to cause a worldwide census and have 1,000 upon 1,000 of people relocate just so we can move a young couple from point a to point b in order to fulfill his word. It's extraordinary what God is doing.
Joel Brooks:You can't ever figure out what his plans are. If if you were struggling with with your life, it just seems like things are kinda chaotic and you're wondering what, I wonder what in the world God is doing. Let me just go and tell you, you can't figure it out. You cannot figure it out. A God who would cause a worldwide census to move somebody from point a to point b.
Joel Brooks:His plans are extraordinary, but you can trust that what he is doing is for his glory and for your good. He is in control. After traveling 80 long miles, Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is to town. It lies only 4 miles outside of Jerusalem.
Joel Brooks:It's nothing like the, the town that's depicted in the Christmas cards or in the movies or Christmas pageants. It was small. It likely consisted of only 12 families, 12 or so families. It was very tiny. And because it was so tiny and insignificant that when a census declares that all these people have to go there, it is flooded beyond its capacity.
Joel Brooks:So Mary and Joseph, they can't find a place to stay. I know that the innkeeper gets a bad rap, but an innkeeper isn't even mentioned here. Once again, that was my Bible trivia question to my kids. But in all the plays, all the Bible, all of the pageants, you kinda have this Nazi, innkeeper saying, leave, no room for you. We really don't know why they couldn't find room here.
Joel Brooks:Perhaps Joseph didn't call ahead. I mean, we have no real idea. We just know that he got there and everything was full. And this is important for us to ponder this during this Christmas season. I actually wrote for the advent gathering devotional that will be happening this week.
Joel Brooks:I wrote a devotional on this very thing. The fact that Mary and Joseph could not find a place to stay is absolutely extraordinary when you think about it. It's shocking. Because up to this point, when you're looking at the Christmas story, you have seen miracle after miracle after miracle happen. I counted at least 11 miracles happen.
Joel Brooks:Angels have been dispensed to give people news. The Holy Spirit has come and overshadowed Mary, a virgin, and made her pregnant. A mysterious star has been placed in the sky to guide the Magi. Dreams have been given to both Joseph and to the Magi, telling them where to go and what to do. And there's all of these miracles that are taking place.
Joel Brooks:And yet when it comes to the time, the critical time for Jesus to actually be born, Not a miracle is given. The innkeeper doesn't have a dream saying, hey, I've got some special guest. You need to keep a room open. There there's no angel that is sent before preparing the way for Mary and Joseph. Instead, they get there, no miracles, and they're without without a room.
Joel Brooks:And what God is doing is he's actually teaching us something quite profound in this. He is telling us that we have to make room for Jesus, that we have to actually receive the gift of his son. A number of the hymn writers picked up on this. One of the most famous Christmas hymns, Joy to the World, says, joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king.
Joel Brooks:Let every heart prepare him room. And so we have to make room for Jesus. This Christmas, are you making room for him? Have you created space to pray, to worship, to think about this Christmas story? Or are you just being carried along with the current?
Joel Brooks:Since Mary and Joseph can't find a place to stay, they are forced to find some place outside of the inn. Likely they found it's not really a stable. It's not a barn. Likely it was one of the back rooms to one of these small homes. Most of these small homes and villages like this, they would have an attached back room.
Joel Brooks:And at night, that is where where they would bring their animals in to keep them warm. So likely somebody brought in Mary and Joseph and said, although we are full, you you can stay in this back place where we keep the animals. And they did. And there, Mary gave birth to Jesus and she wrapped him in swaddling cloths and she laid him in a feeding trough. It's astounding.
Joel Brooks:The King of the universe, he came and yet he was not born in a palace. He wasn't born to parents of prestige, parents of wealth, but he was born in a place for animals, to insignificant poor parents. You could not get more insignificant in the world's eyes than Mary and Joseph. But this is how our savior comes to us. After Jesus is born, God the father does what every father does.
Joel Brooks:He sends out birth announcements. And so he he does it a little differently. He he sends it out via angels, to some shepherds who are abiding in the field. They're somewhere nearby. And Bethlehem was actually known as a shepherding community.
Joel Brooks:Since it was so close to Jerusalem, the temple in Jerusalem often used the fields of Bethlehem to raise up the sheep that they would sacrifice in the temple. And you just have to think that it is no coincidence that God, the father wanted his son, the true lamb of God to be born in the place that raises the sacrifices for the temple. Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem. Even take the name Bethlehem, that's 2 Hebrew words. Beth meaning house lehem, which means bread.
Joel Brooks:It's the house of bread. And you know from our study in John, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. I am the true bread that has come down from heaven to be born here in this house of bread. Let's read on about the shepherds. Let's read again verse verse 8.
Joel Brooks:Says in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them. And the glory of the Lord shown around them. And they were filled with fear. Now, shepherds in this day were pretty low on the social ladder, about as low as you could get.
Joel Brooks:We, we like to romanticize the life of a shepherd. Think of them living out under the stars, you know, holy cuddly lambs. But in the 1st century, they were really looked down on. We we have a you know, the manger scene at our house, we have a number of them, nativity scenes. And, one of our main ones, all the shepherds actually look like they're dressed in Ralph Lauren clothes.
Joel Brooks:I mean, they they they really look good. But that would not have been the case in this day. They would have they would have been dirty. They certainly would look down on. As a matter of fact, they, they were considered so sketchy that they were not allowed to hold a public office.
Joel Brooks:They were considered so untrustworthy that they were not allowed to testify in court. I read this one description from the 1st century about shepherds. A quote, it says, they cannot be trusted. They are brute, thieving, deplorable men who prefer the company of animals to community life. And although the sheep that they raised would be considered pure enough to go into the temple, shepherds were forbidden to enter into the temple themselves and ever make a sacrifice.
Joel Brooks:Their lifestyle made them impure. They can never be ritually clean. And these people, these shepherds were the very first people that God went to proclaim the gospel to. The heralding of the gospel went to shepherds. It did not go to the ruling elite.
Joel Brooks:The gospel went to those who could not come to God, But were actually forbidden to go. The glory of the Lord shown on these people. The glory of God did not shine on some rabbi, He was in his house late at night studying the Torah, having his quiet time. The glory of God shown on people like the shepherds. I love this.
Joel Brooks:I love this. It means that in all of our dirtiness in all of our shame, in all of our insignificance, God comes to us. And he proclaims his good news to people like us. So this Angel, the Lord, he appears. The shepherds, they react probably like we would all react.
Joel Brooks:They get really scared. They're terrified. I love the King James version. It says that they were sore afraid. Nobody talks like that anymore.
Joel Brooks:They were sore afraid. In Greek, it literally says that they were megaphobic. They were utterly terrified. And if you were to read through your entire Bible, you'd realize that this is a common response to anybody who encounters the glory of God. When Isaiah encountered the glory of God in Isaiah 6, he says, woe is me for I am a man undone.
Joel Brooks:Literally, I am falling apart at the seams, when confronted with the brilliance of God's glory. Why is this? Why is it that God's glory terrifies us so much? These shepherds are terrified of the glory of God. And the reason is that the glory of God, that light, and not only shows who God is, but it exposes who we are.
Joel Brooks:You are suddenly very aware of who you are in light of such glory. Back in the first pages of the Bible, we see when God created Adam, they used to take walks together in the cool of the evening in the garden. And they did this all the time until Adam decided to become a modern man and make his own choices. Nobody tells him what to do. He will be his own king.
Joel Brooks:But he found that when he did that, he could no longer endure God's glorious presence. He couldn't do it. So immediately he went hiding. He he hid in some bushes and he hid with fig leaves. And we have been hiding ever since.
Joel Brooks:We we don't do it with fig leaves, but we find other ways to hide. We we hide behind our religiosity. We hide behind our our moral virtues. We hide behind our careers, or we hide behind the affirming words that others laud on us. But we're hiding.
Joel Brooks:Before God though, we cannot hide. Before Him, there is no such thing as a secret sin. There's that little dark place that you don't want anybody to see and you think you're doing so well covering it up. When God's light shines, it is as bright as day to him. There are no secret sins.
Joel Brooks:I've actually heard it described this way. Suppose you took a job that you were completely unqualified for. Some of you are like, yeah, I'm with you. Right now, I'm with you. But but you actually, you have no idea what is going on.
Joel Brooks:And so you're constantly trying to fake it. You know, you put on a nice suit, you go in every day, you try to say important sounding things, you know, like, yeah, you know, our problem is this data matrix isn't working with the new system's flux capacitor, you know, or just, you know, and then try to just back away. And as you're saying these things, you're kind of pulling it off, But there's this underlying fear and anxiety that is with you every day that somebody might find you out. But so far, you're able to keep it hidden that you're a total fraud. Well, what if you hear that one day, this company hires an absolute expert in the field that you are supposed to be an expert in?
Joel Brooks:A person with a ton of experience and that person comes in. Your low level anxiety just went through the roof. You were scared out of your mind because you know that this person will look at you and be like, you're nothing more than a con artist. This person, you cannot fool. And you become sore afraid because you're going to be exposed.
Joel Brooks:This is what happens when the glory of God shines on us. We realize we're nothing more than con artists. We really don't have our act together. We really don't have a perfect life. We really are falling apart.
Joel Brooks:We're exposed for who we are, and we become sore afraid. These shepherds are terrified by this light. The angel then speaks these comforting words to them. Words of comfort and joy. Look at verse 10.
Joel Brooks:And the angel said to them, fear not. Behold, I bring you good news of a 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. Now, do not miss this. Do do not miss this.
Joel Brooks:The angels tell them that they do not need to be afraid. They say fear not, but it's not fear not period. You just don't need to be scared. No, it's fear not for. He tells them what they must do in order to not be afraid.
Joel Brooks:Fear not for behold. If you don't wanna be afraid, you need to look at something. You need to look at Jesus, the savior of the world. That's why you should not be afraid. In order to get rid of the fear that you feel from being in God's presence, you have to constantly look to the savior who casts out that fear.
Joel Brooks:This is what the Christmas season is about. It's about beholding, beholding Jesus. Looking at Jesus. We're gonna look at Christmas lights. We're gonna look at Christmas ornaments.
Joel Brooks:We're going to to look at all these decorations, but don't forget to look at Jesus, the one who casts out the fear, The one who allows us to come into the presence of God. After the angels proclamation of the gospel, there is suddenly an entire host of angels, and they begin praising God saying, in verse 14, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased. Another trivia question I always ask my kid is like, so what did the angels sing? Did they sing this? I'm like, yes, I'm like, no, it says angels said it.
Joel Brooks:I'm sorry. Maybe they were singing, but that's not what the Bible says. I know I'm a jerk as a dad. If you wanna sum up the Christmas story, what it means, This is its summary statement. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
Joel Brooks:The Christmas message is all about the glory of God and the peace of man. That's that's the Christmas message in a nutshell. That is why Jesus came in flesh. It's all about his glory and our peace. Since we've been looking at the glory of God so much as we've gone through John, I just wanna kinda put that aside and just focus in on this peace.
Joel Brooks:What kind of peace are the angels declaring? Is it a physical peace? Well, yes. Eventually. But certainly not right then.
Joel Brooks:I mean, Herod's just about to issue a bunch of troops come in and slaughter the children 2 years old and under. So it's certainly not a physical peace at this moment, but a physical peace to come. This is a peace that must happen between God and man. The peace that's being declared here is first a peace that we have with God. And this is necessary before we can ever have a peace with man.
Joel Brooks:The Bible describes our condition as one of being at war with God. You might not feel this, but this is our condition apart from Christ. We're at war with God. We have rebelled against him. We have rejected his rule as our king, and we have said, nope, mutiny here.
Joel Brooks:I am doing self rule, And we have declared war. But now through Jesus, God has declared peace to us. Paul tells us about this in Romans 5, when he says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And this piece isn't just a ceasefire. It's not a cease from hostilities.
Joel Brooks:This is a peace that comes from the joyful restoration of a friendship. God is saying through Jesus, we get to once again walk in the garden together in the cool of the evening. We get to have that kind of intimacy again. True peace. It's what Christmas is about.
Joel Brooks:Back to the story, I'll I'll end here. After the angels went away, the shepherds immediately run off to Bethlehem in order to find this baby lying in a manger. I've often wondered what they have thought when they got to Jesus. I mean, they the scene they just had, you know, an angel coming. This brilliant glory shining.
Joel Brooks:An entire host of heaven singing or saying. And now they come and it's a very ordinary looking baby. And they're just kinda looking at this this child here, and then the child just looks so ordinary. Treasured these things and they pondered these things. I I love this because this is actually the most common way that God's word comes to us.
Joel Brooks:I don't know about you, but I typically don't get the angels. I don't really get the shining light coming upon me. If you do, let's talk afterwards. What I get is is the testimony, usually from God's word. The testimony from people who have had that experience.
Joel Brooks:God has spoken to them in that way, and then they are declaring that to me. And God is saying, you need to be like Mary, and you need to ponder these things, and you need to treasure these things, then we are really hearing secondhand. It's often how God's word comes to us. I love it that the very first witnesses here to Jesus' birth were the people who were the lowest of the low, the people who were unfit to testify in court, whose word was untrustworthy. I love it that that's who God declared.
Joel Brooks:These are my first witnesses. This is his first witnesses at his birth and it's very similar to the first witness of his resurrection, which was Mary Magdalene. A woman was not able to testify in court in that day. And so from Jesus's birth into His resurrection, He gets these witnesses that people would think, they're too low, they're too sketchy to be able to take them at their word. And God elevates people like that and says, no, you are heralds of the gospel.
Joel Brooks:I love that, that he raises up people like this to testify about his grace. The story ends with shepherds going back to their fields, glorifying and praising God. They, they go have to go back to work. There's always this awkward moment when I, I go and visit people who just had a baby in the hospital and I don't get to visit everyone, but I try to visit as many as I can. And, and of course that couple, I mean, like this baby is their world And you go and you're like, this is an adorable baby and you feel really great.
Joel Brooks:But then at some point, into it, you're like, I really just gotta get back to work. I mean, there's just, there's no easy way to say that because this is their life. But you're like, yeah, I'm sorry. I've gotta go. I'm glad I got to visit with you.
Joel Brooks:The shepherds, as wonderful as this is, they have to go back to the job. They're going back to the office. They have to go back sitting their cubicle or go back to changing diapers, you know, go back to normal everyday life. And for them, nothing looks different. They're still doing the same things, yet everything has changed.
Joel Brooks:Everything has changed for them as they go about their normal lives. Because God has reached down to them in their humble estate. God has sent the savior to come and rescue them from their sins and to restore a friendship with God. This is the Christmas story. It is news of great joy for all people.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. Our father, I pray that we would make room for your son Jesus in our lives. That we would receive him, we would adore him, we would treasure him. In the midst of all this hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, may we not be swept away into the current of culture and to things that don't matter. Things that will not last.
Joel Brooks:But may we look anew at you, Jesus. May we receive this glad tidings of great joy. We pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.
