What are we so excited about? Who are We Waiting for? | Luke 2
Luke 2: What are we so excited about? Who are We Waiting for?
Bottom Line: God Became a Man
So, what we’re NOT trying to do on Christmas Eve is try to make the birth of Christ more exciting. 1. If we don’t think “God became a man” is exciting enough, we should get our pulse checked.
God Became a Man, and He shouldn’t have to compete for our affection with a new phone, nunchucks, a new car or a big guy in a red suit. We don’t have to hang lights on the Light of the World.
God Became a Man – the greatest event to occur in the history of the universe Video – Tribe celebrates receiving Bibles
Luke 1:39-45 (Mary went to visit Elizabeth)
39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are
you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!
John, even as a baby…not a fetus…a baby…knew who to get excited about
Rosie (rescued, separation anxiety from her rescuers and pure joy in being reunited)
John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In 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.
John 1:14
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
1. The Creator of the World humbled Himself and became a man, just to live for us, die for us (by our own hands) and raise from the dead…all for our forgiveness and redemption.
Best summed up by:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
There are over 400 prophesies about the Messiah in the Old Testament – Jesus fulfilled them all. The odds of Jesus fulfilling just 8 of those prophesies is 1 in 1 quintillion (18 zeroes)
Lee Strobel figured out a visual for that: tiles 1 1/2” square, one with red on the bottom – covering the every bit of dry land on the earth - 1 person walking the earth for a lifetime can only pick up 1.
Genesis 49:10 (about 1500 years before Christ) The Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah
The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,[a]
until he to whom it belongs[b]shall come
and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
Isaiah 7:14 (about 700 years before Jesus was born) The Messiah would be born of a virgin
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.
Fulfilled: (Luke 1:26-33)
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.”
29Mary 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. 32He 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.”
Jeremiah 23:5 (about 646 years before Jesus)
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will raise up for David[a] a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
2 Samuel 7:12-13
When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Back to Luke:
Luke 2:1-7
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.) 3And everyone went to their own town to register.
Micah 5:2 (400 years before the birth of Christ) The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, from the tribe of Judah
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans[a] 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.” (In the beginning was the word) Luke 2
4So 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. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While 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.
0. Jesus is born when Israel is under Roman Rule.
1. There is an invisible power behind and OVER the human rulers. They didn’t know it at the time, but God used Caesar and Quirinius to fulfill what He had promised long before that.
2. If you’re tempted to worry or celebrate over who is in charge of this great nation, your town or you HOA, DON’T. The same God is behind and over all OUR rulers too.
3. The birth of Christ…God became a Man.
4. Nothing about this particular scene says “GLORY”, but everything about this scene INSTRUCTS us about Glory.
5. In the Kingdom of God, HUMILITY always precedes GLORY
- The first will be last, and the last will be first (Mark 10:31)
- God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6) …also 1 Peter -Humble yourself before the Lord, and in good time, He will exalt you (James 4:10) + We see this modeled right from the beginning of Jesus’ life
+ True greatness is not always visible greatness
One of our favorite Christmas songs is “Christmas Snow” by Audrey Assad (on Chris Tomlin’s Christmas)
Could've come like a mighty storm With all the strength of a hurricane
You could've come like a forest fire With the power of Heaven in Your flame
(But) You came like a winter snow Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night To the earth below
6. Truth is, most of us have glory-craving hearts, and the incarnation of the Son of God in an animals feeding trough should put our hearts in check. In fact, Jesus spent a lifetime showing us how to live like Him.
Philippians 2:3-11
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Luke 2:8-20
8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An 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.”
15When 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.”
1. The angels appeared to shepherds keeping watch over their flock.
- Not glorious work / bad reputation / they were considered unreliable and despised. - God chose THEM to get the good new first…the first to hear of the great joy for all people - These despised individuals were the first to hear that God became a man…
- These guys were the first to hear all of the titles of Jesus brought together – Savior, Messiah, Lord
WHY? The Bible doesn’t necessarily say why them…but
It appears that God chose the humbled of society to reveal the humble beginnings of the life of His glorious Son.
Jesus was consistent throughout His ministry in is love for the humble
Jesus’ very beginning didn’t demonstrate the riches of His existence, but Jesus Himself was born into poverty.
SIDE NOTE – What do you think that implies?
1. Poverty is not a sin.
2. Poverty is not God’s disapproval
3. Poverty does not prevent a person from worshipping God
4. Poverty does not necessarily doom a person to poverty forever
5. Poverty does not excuse unrighteousness
6. Poverty is not shameful in and of itself
7. Poverty is a cross that God entrusts to some people for a time
If some prosperity gospel preacher tries to tell you that poverty is a sin, of that it is God condemning you, and that you just have to give a certain amount of money to be released, they are lying to you.
Some poverty is our own responsibility. Point to Jesus.
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When 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.
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
1. That does not mean…”huh?”.
- An angel had visited her (and her fiancée), she became pregnant as a virgin and just gave birth to the Savior of the world in barn. A bunch of stinky shepherds came to visit her baby, the Good Shephard telling them of heavenly hosts of angels…she didn’t go “huh”…”what do ya know…”
2. She treasured the moment as a mother and pondered the events leading up to it in her heart. 3. People who ponder the fact that God Became a Man, don’t just go “huh”.
God became a man – THAT is what we’re excited about
And if you really want to get excited, knowing that Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophesies about the Messiah, give this a pondering: He’s Coming Back as a conquering King
1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Revelation 22:12-13
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
The one who fulfilled all of the prophesies about the Messaiah, Jesus himself, said He is coming back… We better believe it
We better be ready