Sermon Info
Summary
The angels proclaimed Jesus’ coming. The shepherds joined in what God was doing. Mary had faith and trusted what God did with her life. Each of them were integral parts of this incredible, unforeseen love story, and it is this story that we celebrate each Christmas season. Let us not forget what this season means, even as this year’s Christmas comes and goes. CHRISTmas means God is with you. Jesus came as a baby boy to make a way for us to live forever with Him. Do you believe the story of what our Savior did for us? How does this truth impact the way you live? Church, it’s time for us, in the wonder of this season, to join in what God’s doing, and it’s time for us to glorify and thank Him for this CHRISTmas story!
Content
The Coming of Jesus
Write down today’s date. Think about how often you write that date throughout the years – reference it historically, presently, and futuristically. We determine and associate when things happened based on this time reference. That point in history has to have a fixed reference point. A day or year is not just arbitrarily selected. It is a movement forward from some fixed time in history that has a before and after. In modern times, this is known as B.C. and A.D.
Therefore, when you write the date, it is essentially indicating how long it has been since Christ was born. Literally.
Is the birth of Jesus Christ important? Is it true? Did it occur? There are a lot of historical records, the Word of God, and active faith in our lives through the Holy Spirit that proclaim the reality of Jesus Christ. The incarnation of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, is a monumental point in history. The Old Testament all points to Jesus Christ, and the New Testament propels forward as the Good News of Jesus Christ is spread throughout the world. Salvation is found in Jesus Christ. He is God.
The Gospels all provide biographies of the life of Jesus Christ. Consider the birth narrative: a human baby could not determine to whom they would be born, their lineage, the location of their birth, or the governance of a foreign power to specifically direct the placement of the child’s parents in a way that they could not control. The historian, Luke, indicated the specific timeframe of Jesus Christ’s birth and the details of the location.
So, what does it mean that God took on flesh, died, and rose again? It means everything.
The shepherds were told of Jesus’ birth announcement. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:11-12). Jesus’ birthplace of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1) was foretold in the Old Testament by the prophet Micah. Micah 5:2 states, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans 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.”
We read this in John 3:16-17: “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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
Romans 10:9-10 states, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
So, the next time you write a calendar date, ponder what that the date means. It is a proclamation that God took on flesh in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, entering earth as a baby boy. Jesus Christ was a real person, who was born in Bethlehem, who lived for over 30 years in that form on earth, and who died and rose again for your sins and for mine – so that we could be reconciled with God through faith.
What does Jesus' coming mean for you and me?
The angels proclaimed Jesus’ coming. The shepherds joined in what God was doing. Mary had faith and trusted what God did with her life. Each of them were integral parts of this incredible, unforeseen love story, and it is this story that we celebrate each Christmas season. Let us not forget what this season means, even as this year’s Christmas comes and goes. CHRISTmas means God is with you.
Jesus came as a baby boy to make a way for us to live forever with Him. Do you believe the story of what our Savior did for us? How does this truth impact the way you live? Church, it’s time for us, in the wonder of this season, to join in what God’s doing, and it’s time for us to glorify and thank Him for this CHRISTmas story!
