Rev. Rob Henderson
Shelby Wesleyan Church
https://www.angelfire.com/mi2/robhenderson/
robnaomi@oceana.net
December, 1999
A little boy and girl were singing Christmas carols in church. The boy ended “Silent Night with the words, “Sleep in heavenly beans.” “No,” corrected his sister, “Not beans, peas.”
I hope that this message does not lose its meaning or words are misundertood as we delve into some very deep subjects concerning Christmas.
What is Christmas to you? What is Christmas all about and how does it effect your life?
We live in such an opinionated world. You see, there is no right or wrong, only opinion. There is no truth or falsehood, only opinion. There is no real or unreal, only opinion.
When I watch a football game I hear the opinions of football analysts. When I read Time magazine or pick-up the newspaper I am more than likely receiving someone’s evaluation and opinion about a certain subject or political sway.
I don’t know about you but I am sick of polls doing the thinking. There are those politicians who put their finger to the wind to find out how to stand on a particular subject. There are those who monitor public opinon so that they can set a politcally correct agenda in order to gain public support. And I am sure there are pastors and church boards who determine the church’s vision based on popularity.
Christmas is not about whether it is your opinion that God became man, was born of a vrigin, or has provided a way of salvation.
These are historical facts. And your opinion does not change the certainties of God.
This morning I would like to share with you three points of Christmas that I believe make Christmas what it is. Three very impossible events and circumstances and yet three very vital points of Christianity. If any of us are to understand the true meaning of Christmas we must adhere to and believe these impossibilities.
1. Jesus was born of a virgin.
Impossible! There is no way that a woman can become pregnant by herself. The human body was not created that way. Sure, there are some plant life that reproduces alone. but not human beings.
This is one element of Christianity that must never be surrendered to popular opinion or human logical thinking. Sure, this goes against logic and nature and yet it is a fundamental part of Christianity.
There seems to be no question of Jesus miraculous birth in the scriptures. There is an assumption that goes beyond question. There are a few scriptures devoted this subject but it was never treated as a subject that had to be defended. Matthew records Isaiah’s prophecy as being a fulfillment in Mary. That she, as a virgin, would give birth to a child. Luke gives us the details surrounding that encounter by recording even her questioning of how this could come to pass.
Luke was nobody’s dumbie. The writer Luke was a physician. He understood the ramifications of what he was penning. His sources very easily could have included Mary herself. In fact, it is very likely that Luke asked her himself, or at least found a reliable source close at hand. This was not simply an issue of believing an unbelievable occurrence but for Luke it was recording the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew records Jesus as being born of a virgin. What did Matthew do for three years? He walked with Jesus. He had ample opportunity to hear and quiz Jesus on this issue. He had access to those who were near the situation. Perhaps he asked Mary. Matthew knows whether this is the truth or not. He puts his credibility on the line.
The Apostle’s Creed strongly states the belief of Christ’s virgin birth: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary...”
We must choose what to believe about the virgin birth. Either this Jesus was born of a virgin or he wasn’t. Did Matthew, who left a life of cheating his fellow citizens to follow Christ, lie about the virgin birth? Was he mistaken? Did he make it up in order to make the pieces fit even though they didn’t? If he was under-handed about what took place then why did he stake his life and eventually die for a cause that he knew was false?
How about Luke? Was this physician, who was meticulous to details (have you ever worked for a doctor), get his details wrong? Did he record the falsehoods of others who were with Jesus and near Jesus? Why would he lie to his friend Theophilus? He had nothing to gain from lying about his account. He made sure that his facts were straight.
And one more thing, nobody cracked on this issue. All of the Apostles gave themselves for Christ. They gave up careers and most of them their very lives. Nothing gained.
The fact is, Jesus was born of a virgin. His miraculous birth supersedes the myths of Greeks and other mythology. Here we have recorded history that not only proves the truth but challenges us to accept it. Can we handle the truth?
Christmas would be different if Jesus were not born of a virgin.
Secondly, God became man.
Impossible!
Hercules was part man, part God. There have been mythologies that suggested that the gods intermingled with man to produce part human part god.
But Jesus was different from that.
God became man.
Jesus was fully man and fully God. If we choose otherwise the results would be something other than Christianity. Such thinking is the way of cults.
Philippians 2:6-7 gives us the best perspective of what took place that first Christmas:
(Jesus) Who being in very nature God,
John says that “In the beginning was the Word or Logos or Jesus, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus was God in heaven. Let’s go on.
(Jesus) did not consider equality with God something to be grasped
His humanity did not make him unequal with God or damage his God-ness and yet those divine attributes were still his but
(Jesus) made himself nothing,
This is the humdinger: Jesus voluntarily gave up and emptied himself of all divine prerogatives, privilieges, and status. This called in the Greek, kenosis.
(Jesus) took on the very nature of a servant
His humiliation deemed that he would not come to earth with pomp and circustance, His intent was not to come to rule but to serve. Serve who? He came to be our servant. The true nature of Christ is that he serves us even today.
He was made in human likeness.
Contrast this with Genesis 1:26 when God said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.” We were created in God’s image and likeness, sin distorted that image and likeness, mankind became damaged goods, God becomes man, Jesus takes on the likeness of man himself- with all of his human weaknesses including temptation.
Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation once said this: “The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding.”
Believe me, Christmas would not be Christmas if God did not become man. If this were just another good human being who was born we would not celebrate this day in quite the same way.
The fact is, Jesus was no ordinary person who was born into poverty. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, this was God becoming man.
Thirdly, God loves you.
Impossible! How could God love a self-centered, selfish person like me?
Why would a perfect being such as God love such an imperfect person such as me? Does God love us because he feels sorry for us? Of course not. That wouldn’t be perfect love.
God loves us because he chooses to love us.
The truth is this:
Christmas is about God’s love for you. Right where you are, despite who you are and regardless of what you have done or what you haven’t done.
“For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whosever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
God’s love for you spans the oceans, goes deeper than any valley and higher than any mountain. Wherever you go you cannot escape His reach of love.
My life has been touched by the Master’s hand. And God wants to reach into your life with the same touch.
Philippians 2:8 goes on say this:
“And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!”
Jesus was not only a servant to those he came to save but he became a servant to that enemy of human life- death.
Jesus died on the cross because of your sinfulness and mine. I never robbed a bank, or was addicted to a substance or beat my wife and kids. I tried to live the best I could. But yet, all of this is beside the point. It isn’t the just the things that we have done that God saves us from through the death of Christ, but it is who we are- our sinfulness and selfishness.
Literally, Jesus saves us from ourselves.
And today, this is the meaning of Christmas. God loves us, His Son came to earth, Jesus died for our sins, He was raised from the dead, and now he wants to be “Christ in you” as Paul wrote to the Colossians.
