Christmas Eve

So my name is Jerry, I'm one of many pastors here at The Chapel. And it's an honor for me today to be able to talk about the greatest story, the story of Christmas.

Now this is a story, in case you didn't realize this, that actually does not end at a manger. In fact, the story that we're talking about today, this Christmas story, doesn't even begin there. It's a story that goes back as far as God has existed into eternity past. Because God, in his foreknowledge, in his omniscience, knew that this would be the way. This idea of God putting on flesh in the person of Jesus, this would be the idea for rescuing humanity.

Now, this wasn't some kind of knee-jerk reaction by God because he saw how destitute humanity was. This is something that has been in the heart and the mind of God from eternity past. Can you imagine? It's actually pretty astounding when we begin to think about it. And to be honest with you, this story, this story of Christmas should leave us in awestruck, open-mouthed wonder.

You see, this is a story of love. This is a story of hope. It's a story of rescue. It's a story of renewal. It's a story of redemption. But this story is also something else that we too easily forget and really don't take the time to ever talk about. This story of Christmas is a story of obedience.

We often forget that, because we get lost in what we're conditioned to do, and that is we just want to stay in the magic that is Christmas. You know, we want to create the scene, we want to have the setting, we've got it all in our heads, right? We want to stand by the warm glow of a baby's face in a beautiful manger, forgetting that it was a feeding trough for animals. We kind of just put these hallmark moments into our head, and we want to recreate them, and just keep it there. Sometimes a Hallmark card, sometimes a Hallmark movie.

Dudes, if you're just at home watching your Hallmark movies, check your man card. If you're watching with your wife, I'll cut you some slack. But, if you're watching alone, call me. Or don't. Whatever.

That's what we try and do. We're conditioned to try and create that in our heads. But I'm here to tell you that the story that we're talking about is so earthy and so tangible and so real and so emotional, that we can't get around it. And it is fundamentally a story about obedience.

I want to let the writers of Scripture tell us the story of it today, and so I want to begin in Matthew's gospel, and let's take a look at what it says in verse number 18 of chapter 1. It says, This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Have you just thought about that for very long at all? If you just let that sit on you, all by itself. We're not talking about some made up fantasy story. We're talking about a true actionable, real historical story where this transpired. It's startling.

In fact, what's even more startling is that we get additional details as to how this angel broke the news to Mary when we look over in Luke's gospel, chapter number 1. It says,  In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He 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, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Startling, isn't it? I mean, what's happening here is absolutely starting.

So what do you think Joseph, the guy who is betrothed to be married to Mary, what do you think he is thinking during this time? Well, Mathew tells us in chapter 1 in verse 19. He says: Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose [Mary] to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

You see, this is what's going on. It doesn't really feel Hallmarkian at this point, because this is a real earthy, tangible kind of situation that seems a little bit contentious maybe even. You've got a scenario.. if you could sit in Mary, in her shoes for just a moment. Her sandals, I guess more importantly. If you could just put yourself there for just a moment and think the thoughts that Mary was thinking at the time that she heard all of this news.

I mean, she's walking down the usual path that young Jewish girl is walking down. She's just living her life, living in a small town with maybe a couple hundred people in the town of Nazareth. She's a teenage girl who wants to be married, and her parents have done her a great service by finding her a gentleman in the area there, talking with his parents and setting up a relationship. And she's thrilled, because she knows Joseph to be a man of great reputation, and to be a righteous man, and a man who loves and fears God. Everything is working out really well for Mary. And she's planning her marriage, maybe seeing Joseph as he's working on houses from time to time as a carpenter and a mason. And he's looking at her, and she's looking at him, and they're smiling at one another.

And they're betrothed. This isn't a silly engagement where you can just take back the ring, and everything's cool. This is something that the only way to get out of is a certificate of divorce. It's a very serious thing. It's a commitment. But they haven't yet been married.

And so Mary is going about her, kind of run of the mill life, her non-descript world, and an angel shows up and begins talking to her. Now pause for a second. We're not talking about the little baby naked ones that sit on your shoulder, you know, with little halos, and flippers or whatever. We're not talking about that. We're talking really large celestial beings coated in the glory of God that have come from the throne room of God as a messenger to speak to you. And if you were in their presence, you'd be scared to death. And that's what Mary was - scared to death. That's why the angel says, don't be scared. I don't know if that worked, by the way. Don't be scared. Oh, okay. Right? That's kind of how you feel.

And so the angel says, I'm bringing you some news. Here it is. You're going to have a child. And it's going to be the Son of God. And Mary has the young audacity to talk back to this angel, not in a sarcastic way, but in an inquisitive one. And she says, how is this even possible? I've not been with Joseph. I've not been with anyone. We have not consumated our marriage. The only way that children come is by this, and that's not something I've done. The angel says, the Holy Spirit is going to overshadow you, and you're going to give birth to a son. God's got this.

What does Mary do when she gets this news? What does Mary do? Listen to this. She obeys. She says to the angel who's representing God, she says, "May it be to me just as you said. I am the Lord's servant." In other words, she's saying, whatever God's will is in this scenario, that's what I want to see happen. Incredible, isn't it?

Now, I can assure you, and I'm not an expert on women. I don't know why that's funny. But I have a wife. We've been married for a long time. More than two decades. I've known her since sixth grade. And though I am a reasonable expert, as much as one can be an expert on their wives, I still feel l know very few things about her mind and how it works. It is somewhat mysterious to me, in fact. And if she is representative of women, not that every woman is the same, certainly not. But if she's representative of the way that the woman's mind thinks, I am at a loss. Because there are times where I can't quite figure something out.

But here's what I have figured out about my wife. That if she commits to something or says she's willing to do something, that she'll do it. But here's what I know. After saying she will do it, and after dawning on her what she has committed to doing, she then realizes after the fact all of these questions that she now has as to what she committed to. And she will begin to ask them.

What do you think happened after Mary in the presence of an angel says, I want whatever God wants for me. I want God's will for me. And then the angel leaves. What do you think happened? You think she just skipped out of there, and went that was cool. I think she started asking questions that day, and every day after.

You know what questions starting running through her mind?I don't, but I imagine they were something like this. Why me? Where did this come from? Why me? And if it is me, am I even up to the task? Isn't this what every woman's been praying for, that they would be the one to carry the Messiah, to save Israel and the world? Am I even up to the task?

Is Joseph even going to keep me? In fact, I don't think he's going to keep me. He's planning to put me away quietly, because he's a righteous man, but this is a going to be a really difficult thing. How can I raise a child all by myself? Is any man ever going to have me? Because I'm going to be doing this all by myself. And now they're going to think that I'm scarred and stained. In fact, I don't even know if I'm going to be able to stay here in Nazareth, because I'm going to bring such ill repute on my family's name. Am I going to have to move now with my child and figure out a way to sustain myself, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to do that. Will I be able to even get out of Nazareth in time before they stone me, according to the law, thinking that I'm an adultress, when I haven't actually done that! Is this going to cost me everything? These are the things that had to be running through Mary's mind.

Have you ever felt like Mary? Have you ever had those moments in your life where you knew God wanted you to do something but you felt really confused by it? Have you ever felt like God wanted you to do something, but you knew everybody wasn't jumping on the bus to do the same thing? And as a result, you felt super, super lonely? Have you ever felt like you were facing an impossible situation that you didn't even know how to explain, but you knew what God wanted you to do, but you weren't sure the outcome of this was going to be?

If so, maybe it's something you're facing now. I would encourage you to learn the lesson of Mary. Because you know what Mary did? She obeyed from the outset, and then she obeyed each day after with every question that she had. She had to choose obedience to begin with, and then she had to choose obedience every day in the midst of every question and every doubt and every fear of loneliness and every bit of confusion that swirled around her.

You see, what Mary wanted, and what I believe what God wants for us to want is that more than anything, regardless of how tough the the circumstances are, she wanted God's will done in her life.

Mary obeyed, and the instruction there is we should, too. No matter how tough the circumstance, no matter how difficult it looks, she trusted that God was trustworthy, and she obeyed him.

You see, Mary is not the only person in this story of obedience. You remember Joseph, right? Joseph was going to put her away, and divorce her quietly because he was a righteous man. He didn't want to expose her to public disgrace. He didn't want to see her hurt because of people thinking that she had broken the law.

But thank God. Joseph also got a visit from an angel. The same one. In fact, it says this in Matthew's gospel, verse number 20. It says, after Joseph had considered this (in other words, putting her away and divorcing her), an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

He did what he was told to do. Joseph obeyed. The angel came and said, hey, I know you were a little questionable about this whole thing with Mary, but... here I am, here to tell you, this is what God said. So you can trust that this baby is from the Lord. And I want you to take Mary home as your wife. And you know what? He did.

Do you think that he started thinking about that? Do you think he started asking some questions? I mean you think about it. Joseph knew that all of his buddies that were in construction with him were going to wonder about this whole situation, right? She's pregnant, they're not married. What's the deal?

And then Joseph already knew that none of his friends were going to believe this story. Hey Mike, here's the deal. There's this angel. Mike's going, dude, Joseph, seriously. You have been snorting saw dust. Don't start telling me about an angel, and like, you know, come on dude. None of them are going to believe him, right?

He's probably thinking about his future business perspective because your reputation was everything. And he would deal in the building of homes. He was a carpenter. He would make things. And now his reputation was going to be a different reputation. How is he going to be able to make a living? How is he going to be able to withstand all of this. Is he going to have to take his family and move away?

What's he going to do as a dad, who's not even really his dad when he starts getting made fun of by other kids that know that you're not his dad? What are you going to do then?

Joseph's having to answer all of these questions in his heart. But you know what he did? He went to Mary, and he looked her in the eye and said, I believe you. And he took her home and his wife. Joseph obeyed what God wanted him to do.

But you know that was just the first part of his obedience. Because God gave him actually a second word through the angel. He said, not only do I want you to take Mary home as your wife, but when you have this son, I want you to give him this name - Jesus.

Sure enough, when the child was born, Joseph said, his name's Jesus. The angel had said that to Mary, but he reinforced it with Joseph, and Joseph made sure that he acted on that.

You see, this true story of Christmas, it's a story of obedience in the toughest of circumstances that you can dream of. But do you know what actually it is? Mary and Joseph's obedience is really a foreshadowing of the greater obedience of their son, of Jesus. You see, the one who was going to demonstrate to us what perfect obedience actually looked like.

You see, the story of Christmas didn't start in a manger, and it didn't end in a manger. It started in eternity past, when God recognized that this is what he wanted to do in His own heart and His own mind before anybody was actually created. God knew exactly what He wanted to do to be able to rescue humanity.

He had a plan for the Son of God to become the Son of Man, so that human beings who were embroiled in their sin could find a way of forgiveness, could find hope and rescue and could be reconciled to Him. This was always God's plan.

So, how was He going to be able to do that? Why was this the plan from eternity past? I'll tell you why. Because the Son of God who became the Son of Man had a destiny. And that destiny was actually tied to his name. That's why the angel said, you will call him Jesus. Why? Because he will save his people from their sins. This was the destiny of the one who left eternity past and broke into time and space as we know it, and put on flesh, even the flesh of a baby. This was His destiny.

Well, how in the world was he going to fulfill his destiny as the one who would save his people from their sins? There's only one way. He would have to become a sacrifice. He would offer himself.

You see, here's the reality of our Christmas story, ladies and gentlemen. Mary and Joseph's little lamb was actually the Lamb of God who has come to save the world from their sins.

We begin to run into that a little later on in Jesus' life and in his ministry, because his cousin John is actually out by the Jordan, baptizing people. And then Jesus walks up. Notice what it says in John chapter 1. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" He could have referred to Jesus in any way that he wanted to, but he took this imagery of the Lamb of God, and referenced Jesus, because it was so fraught will all kinds of history and Old Testament imagery.

You see, for Jesus to fulfill his destiny as the Lamb of God, here's what it required. It required him to be obedient, to perfectly completely obey the will of the Father, so that our lives could change as a result. That was His destiny.

You even see that as Jesus is drawing near to His destiny of dying on a cross, you can hear his words in a garden where he is pulled aside to pray. Listen to how Luke records those words. Jesus says, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

In other words, just like my mom said when she was visited by the angel when I was in her stomach coming, as God made flesh, and she said I want your will, God. Now her son is saying in a garden, in the womb of the earth, so that he can save the world from their sins. He's saying, Father, this is going to be really difficult, but not my will, but yours be done. Why? Because I know this is my destiny. My name is Jesus, which means God saves. And I have come to save my people from their sins.

You see, that's the only way that this could happen. Jesus in the garden trusted that God was good and that God could be be completely trusted, and that His will was always the right choice, even when it seemed difficult. When he faced the difficulty of death on a cross, and he faced the spiritual separation from his Father, as he became sin for everyone as the sacrificial lamb, Jesus still said it was worth it. And he chose to obey the Father.

Do you know his obedience has changed everything for us? That this is part of the Christmas story? His obedience has changed everything for us. Mary and Joseph's little lamb is the Lamb of God. And through his obedience and sacrifice, we now can have an eternal salvation.

That's what the book of Hebrews tell us, listen to how the writer says it. During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

And listen to how Paul says it in the book of Philippians chapter number 2. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

You see ladies and gentlemen, to be the Lamb of God, Jesus had to obey perfectly. This was a part of the eternal plan from eternity past. Christmas did not start in a manger. It did not end in a manger. It was birthed in the mind and the heart of God from eternity past, that Jesus would become the sacrificial lamb, taking upon himself as the sinless one, all of our sins, so that God would judge them in Jesus instead of on us. This is the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world.

You see, this little baby, this little lamb, was the Lamb of God. And this picture that Jesus is the Lamb of God, this is a picture that is going to last into eternity for us to remember.

In fact, the writer of Revelation teaches us that. Listen to what it says in Revelation 5. Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Ladies and gentlemen, the story of Christmas didn't end in a manger. The story of Christmas didn't begin in a manger. It began in the heart of God in eternity past, and will carry all the way into eternity future, where we will all together, every person that's ever had breath, will fall on their face and worship the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God!