Luke 2:1-21. Matthew 1:18-2:12
Memory Verse: Luke 2:10-11 - “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of 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.”
Song: Let Us Adore by Elevation Worship
Every year on Christmas Eve, after all the matching pajamas had been handed out and the new family game had been played, my mom would gather us all to read “The Christmas Stories.” We would gather around the couches as my mom brought out two books; the first was The Night Before Christmas. The second, what my mom called “the real Christmas Story,” was contained in our big family Bible, with its ornate golden cover that most often sat in the corner of my parents room covered in a bit of dust. Every Christmas Eve, my mom would read us the second chapter of Luke, and unlike The Night Before Christmas, this story got more and more interesting to me as I got older. Every Christmas Eve for the first 18+ years of my life, my siblings and I found ourselves playing the part of the shepherds, receiving the news of the birth of the Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Just like the shepherds, and the wise men, and even King Herod, we were left with the question… How were we going to respond to this news?
See, the question for everyone involved in this story isn’t whether this news is true, and it isn’t whether it is believable or not; as the great Welsh preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “God is not to be discussed or debated,” and all of the people who hear this news seem to get that. Joseph didn’t question the authenticity of his vision, the shepherds didn't look to the angelic host and say “Really? Is this baby really born today? Is He really the savior, the Lord?” The wise men didn’t back talk to the star and the Herod didn’t spend a second questioning whether this Messiah was born or not (at least not that we see in the text). They take the proclamation of God through his angelic representatives and appoint a star as true–after all, who are they to question what God says? No, the question is not whether this news is true, and it isn’t whether we believe it–the news is true, and it should be believed.
If this news is true, that the Savior has come into the world, that the Messiah has come and that He is Lord, then it means something for everyone involved. It means first and foremost, that the world needs saving. In other words, we are not alright without this Savior. Before you hear the news of a savior coming into the world, you can live your entire life thinking that you are doing just fine–that you aren’t broken or flawed. The second an angel comes to you and says that a savior has been born, you have to wrestle with the fact that you need saving. Secondarily this news means that someone other than you is Lord. Now, for some of us that might be easy to accept; the shepherds in the scripture probably didn’t have any illusions of grandeur. They realized they weren’t ruling and reigning in their lives, let alone calling the shots for the whole universe. The wise men may have had a harder time accepting this, but they did nonetheless. After all, they were smart, they were well respected, and they knew what they were doing, but this was a promised king coming–of course, they would abdicate their own authority. Herod, on the other hand, had a pretty big conundrum. See, Herod, like many of us, saw himself as the rightful ruler of his own destiny. He was powerful, and he was really used to calling all of the shots; and, while he didn’t try to debate the reality of this coming messianic king, he realized the truth. If this was really the king, then it meant he wasn’t, and he could either accept that reality and submit himself to the new king, or go down fighting.
So, I want to bring us back to the question at the beginning. How are we going to respond to this news? Joseph provides us with an example of humble submission–he did exactly what the angel told him whether he liked it or not. The shepherds and wise men provide us with an example of wonder, joy and worship. Not only did they believe the news–acknowledging what it meant for them, that they needed saving and that a new king was coming–they celebrated it as good news.
As my siblings and I gathered around my mom and our family Bible to hear “the real Christmas story” we were in the same position as Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, and Herod. We were in the same position you are now. We were told true news about how the world really is–we were told we were broken and that we were terrible rulers of our lives, but that there was a new king who had come to save us and rule over us. In every part of our lives, are we willing to acknowledge our brokenness and submit to the Lord, who is really Lord, or are we going to try and keep our throne? The news isn’t to be debated or discussed, but it does deserve a response.
