December 1, 2024 • 48 mins
What if your nativity scene isn't telling the real story of Christmas? Join us on a journey to "Fix Your Nativity," where we challenge traditional depictions and explore the profound truths behind the birth of Jesus. Through a fresh lens, we reevaluate common misconceptions and dive into the authentic narratives found in Matthew and Luke. This transformative series invites you to reconsider each piece of your nativity setup, transforming them into powerful reminders of God's abundant grace. With resources like Bible Gateway's Christmas story timeline, you'll gain a richer understanding of how these biblical accounts intricately connect.
Journey through the loneliness and fear that marked the first Christmas, and discover how pivotal figures like Mary, Joseph, and Elizabeth navigated God's plans in solitude. As the holiday season becomes a whirlwind of activity, we reflect on the quiet moments that began it all, where God spoke individually to Mary and Joseph. By embracing these stories, we offer solace to those who feel alone during the festive season and open up a new perspective on spiritual connection and the formation of a larger Family in faith.
We also reimagine the birthplace of Jesus, examining cultural and biblical interpretations that challenge the idea of an innkeeper turning away Mary and Joseph. Delving into original Greek translations, we uncover a more nuanced setting, while exploring the roles of shepherds and Magi as they deepen the nativity story's faith-building moments. Finally, we contemplate the journey from sin to redemption, from the cradle to the cross, highlighting the profound theological concepts of adoption into God's family. Join us as we reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and the transformative journey of faith it represents.
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let me tell you what we're going to be doing this
Advent.
We're going to be, in a sense,moving away from Luke.
In some senses we're not movingaway at all, because the
account of the Advent happens intwo books of the Bible
primarily, that is, matthew andLuke.
And so we're going to belooking in Luke, we're going to
be looking in Matthew, but Iwanted to come up with a
creative way for us to enjoyAdvent this season.
(00:22):
And I say that my wife has beensaying for like three years
Will will you please just dothis?
And after four years Isuccumbed and I was like, yes, I
absolutely will.
And so what we're going to bedoing is a small series called
Fixing your Nativity, to fixyour heart on the true and
better story.
Out of curiosity, who has anativity in their yard, in their
(00:44):
house?
Somewhere it's floating around?
Okay, the vast majority of youguys.
Okay, cool, cool.
I'm not telling you you musthave one to be a Christian.
I'm just saying lots ofChristians do.
When I was a kid, everyChristmas one of the gifts that
I would open was I don't knowhow to pronounce it Fontini.
One of the gifts that I wouldopen was I don't know how to
(01:06):
pronounce it Fontini, fontanini.
Thank you, mom, who bought itfor me.
I would get one of these littlelike characters for my nativity
right and now it's like ourfamily nativity, which is really
cool.
I will say, mom, I didn't knowyou were gonna be here at
service one, hi.
I just want you to know Ireally appreciate those gifts,
as I undo a lot of the work ofwhat Fontanita has put in to the
(01:29):
major.
I just want you to know like Istill very much appreciate it as
I now go and say that'sprobably not the most accurate
thing.
So we're going to be workingthrough that text in scripture
and I just want to show you thisis how many nativities we have
in the hawk house.
Every shelf has one, by the way, it is important that you know
(01:52):
this.
This is not because we knewthis is what I was going to be
preaching on.
My wife has collectednativities like they're going to
go out of style or as thoughthey're going to be valued at
bitcoin rates in the comingyears.
So if they ever become acurrency, we are well set.
(02:12):
And in those, let me say, can?
I can say okay, some of themare like little kiddie ones, and
then I I don't know where theone is.
There it is.
There's the one that my mom gotme, the Fontanine.
That's like the classic one,but I just want you to know that
I am coming to you as someonewho sees this a lot.
Now let me tell you why I thinkthis is a good thing for us to
(02:35):
do.
Number one, and I think veryimportantly, I want you to know
the true biblical account.
I want you to know whatscripture actually says, because
we have so many cultural myths.
I want you to know what theBible says.
But the reason that I want youto know what the Bible says is I
think the story is better.
(02:56):
I think the true story has deepmeanings that sometimes we can
miss out on just because thelittle sheep is so cute and we
just want to tuck it in realclose to Jesus, who is the lamb
of God, and we have these littlemoments as we are setting
things up.
Second thing is this I want youChristians in the room not
(03:17):
assuming here Christians in theroom.
I want every Christmas this oneand however many God graciously
gives you, gives your family,gives your children, gives your
grandmother, every one of them.
I want the nativity to besomething that captures not just
your eyes but captures yourheart for a theology of a story
(03:40):
of a God who came humbly becausehe cares for you.
I want us to tether this deepgospel truth to your nativity so
that each year you're remindedabout God's generous grace.
And I think this is a very goodconversation tool.
I think one it's good for yourown self-conversation as you
(04:02):
look at it and you wrestle withyour own sort of thoughts on
Advent and Christmas.
If you have children.
I can think of no better way tolean into some really good
conversations than for your kidsall of a sudden, maybe after
this Sunday, to say why isn'tthere anybody in the Advent?
And what is Joseph doing on thekitchen counter?
And you say, well, let me tellyou.
(04:25):
Or your guests come and theywonder why is it that the angel
is there and it's not here?
And the star is there and it'snot here?
Why does your nativity look sobroken?
Didn't you know we were comingover?
Couldn't you have cleaned up alittle bit?
No, that's where I wanted thewise men at the top of the
stairs.
That's where I wanted them.
Let me tell you why.
Now the other thing is, I don'tjust want to skim.
(04:46):
If there's something that Iknow about you as a people, you
really love the Bible and youlove the depth of the Bible, and
so over the next few weeks, weare going to dig deep and I
believe you're going to findsome things that cause your
heart to warm in all the rightways as we get ready for
Christmas.
So with that, let's go aheadand take a look.
(05:09):
Let me just show you theChristmas story timeline.
If you want to see this, Idon't mind if you get on your
phones, bible Gateway has thislittle timeline.
If you want to know how all ofthe stories intersect from
prophecy and New Testament, youcan just get out and Google this
and you'll be able to find theChristmas story timeline.
But I just want you to see howit begins.
(05:30):
We've got Joseph, we've gotMary, we have Elizabeth.
Zachariah will come on to thesame stage a few moments later
with John the Baptist and wehave the angel Gabriel.
The story progresses this wayMary visits Elizabeth, an angel,
where it will appear to Joseph.
They'll travel to Bethlehem.
Jesus will be born, presentedat the temple.
(05:50):
The Magi will visit Jerusalemand Jesus.
They will leave to go to Egypt,to return to Israel and then
eventually back to Nazareth.
But the reason that I want toshow you this timeline one, I
think it's really, really cool.
But two, I want you to noticethis Christmas begins with
(06:14):
people being very much alone.
I just want you to notice thatwe slide from Thanksgiving so
quickly into Christmas that welump all four or five weeks
together as family or relativesor time together, hustle and
bustle, full tables, detailedmeal lists and thoughts, travel
(06:37):
plans.
And I just want to steady yourheart to begin like this
Christmas.
The very first one started witha man who felt very alone and
confused, with a young lady whofelt very alone and confused,
with an old lady who was excitedbut also fairly confused, with
(07:00):
her husband who was confused,and all of them trying to
navigate.
What is God doing?
Let me pray for us, father, aswe dive into this text.
My greatest desire is that yourspirit would dive in and among
us, for the Christians in thisroom, looking at a text that
many of us could quote, or atleast quote pretty, pretty well,
because we've heard it so manytimes.
(07:21):
Would you, through your spirit,give us fresh eyes, fresh heart
, give us this sort of spiritualposture, of leaning forward,
because we are reading theinfallible, powerful word of God
, and not one piece of it, notone letter, not one syllable is
wasted by you, and so I praythat it wouldn't be wasted by me
(07:42):
and I pray that it wouldn't bewasted by us.
Father, for those in this roomwho feel alone, for those who
look at Christmas season with abit of dread, I pray that, in
the short time that we are goingto spend together this morning,
that you would begin to opentheir eyes, open their minds and
open their hearts to see theway that you build family,
(08:04):
family with a capital F, familynot made by blood but made by a
spirit.
And just in this time, together, that loneliness would be used
by you to drive us nearer to you, that we would have a greater
love for you, that we would havea greater love for people who
may be struggling with it aswell.
But, father, would you alsoshow us how you have invited us
(08:25):
guests to the table of a king,guests who did not deserve to be
there.
And I pray all of these thingsin Jesus' name, amen.
All right, let's take a look,beginning in Luke, chapter 1,
verse 26.
I'm going to compare Luke 1 26and Matthew 1 18, but let's just
(08:45):
take a look here.
In the sixth month, the angelGabriel was sent from God to a
city of Galilee named Nazareth,to a virgin betrothed, to a man
whose name was Joseph of thehouse of David, and the virgin's
name was Mary.
And he came to her and saidgreetings, o favored one.
The Lord is with you.
But she was greatly troubled atthe saying and tried to discern
(09:08):
what sort of greeting thismight be.
The angel said to her do not beafraid, mary, for you have
found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceivein your womb and bear a son, and
you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great and will becalled the son of the most high
(09:28):
and the Lord God will give tohim the throne of his father,
david, and he will reign overthe house of Jacob forever and
of his kingdom there will be noend.
I'm just going to hit pausethere for a minute.
That's a mouthful for an angelto say when you're about a 14,
15-year-old little girl, tryingto figure out what life is going
to look like when you'rebetrothed, is not near you and
(09:48):
all of a sudden this angelicpresence shows up.
And yet here is how Maryresponds.
And Mary said to the angel howwill this be, since I am a
virgin?
And the angel answered her theHoly Spirit will come upon you
and the power of the most highwill overshadow you.
Therefore, the child to be bornwill be called Holy, the Son of
(10:10):
God.
God sends this message to Marywhen she is all alone, and the
Bible tells us that she wasfearful In some capacity.
She is greatly troubled at this, but I want you to notice
something else as well.
Here is a story of Joseph,matthew 1.
(10:34):
Now, the birth of Jesus Christtook place in this way when his
mother, mary, had been betrothedto Joseph.
Before they came together, shewas found to be with child from
the Holy Spirit and her husbandJoseph please don't miss this
being a just man, unwilling toput her to shame, resolved to
divorce her quietly.
(10:55):
There are not many good menlike Joseph on the planet now
and, I think, probably muchsimilar in this day and age.
Joseph is raising his hand fora more difficult task.
He is showing preference tosomeone that he thinks has
absolutely wrecked his trust,someone who he loved, someone
(11:18):
who must have deceived him.
But as he considered thesethings.
As he considered these things,behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dreamsaying Joseph, son of David, do
not fear to take Mary as yourwife, for that which is
conceived in her is from theHoly Spirit.
She will bear a son, and youshall call his name Jesus, for
(11:39):
he will save his people fromtheir sins.
All this took place to fulfillwhat the Lord had spoken by the
prophet.
I just want you to notice thisGod could have sent this angel
when the two of them weretogether.
Have you ever thought aboutthat?
Have you ever thought about howmuch different Joseph's story
would have been if he and Marywere going to Carabas just on a
(12:00):
date, trying to do life together?
Hey, looking forward to theseason?
How about you?
Yeah, me too.
You wanna go out?
We'll get some noodles, it'llbe great, yeah.
And then, on the way they hopoff their donkey and an angel
shows up and he says hey, guys,just wanted to let you know.
Here's the story.
Have you ever wondered why Goddidn't do it that way?
Why does he go to them whenthey are separate and when they
(12:22):
are alone?
Why is it that the thing thatMary and Joseph most have in
common is that both of them, insome capacity, are troubled or
fearful.
Why, by the way?
I'm realizing in this moment,with a new background, my pen is
not nearly as effective as itused to be and half of you guys
can't even see what I'm doing.
So I'm going to try to figurethis out on the fly, because we
(12:44):
have a new background slide,since it's Advent.
Let's see, that's thicker,that'll work.
Trust me on this.
She was greatly troubled, andJoseph is too.
Why does Christmas start withpeople alone and why does
Christmas start with people whoare fearful?
If you were to, if you were todescribe Mary to someone and you
(13:04):
had to come up with one or twowords, you don't have to answer
out loud.
The last thing I want is peoplejust yelling the word virginity
at me while I'm up here.
Okay, but if you were to try todescribe Mary to someone using
one or two words, I wonder whatwords you would use.
I'll tell you.
I don't want you to pick one ortwo.
You see, when I read this story, I read so quickly through this
(13:27):
that I get to Mary much fasterthan our text does.
Here is how Gabriel presentsthis message.
This is how God's word wantsyou to see Mary, and let me just
give you a hint Her name is thelast thing that comes up.
Here's what the Bible actuallywants you to see.
The Bible wants you to see avirgin, and the reason that it
(13:50):
wants you to see that is becauseyou are going to watch in the
days that, in the next three tosix months forward slash 33
years.
This one word is going tochange the course of human
history.
It's not just a note.
This is of cosmological,theological importance.
(14:13):
Mary had to be a virgin forJesus to be able to be both
fully God and fully man, fullyabsorb the wrath of God and
fully represent us as well.
Before the Bible ever saysanything about Mary, it says hey
, I want you to notice thistheological reality that God is
(14:35):
stepping in, but he doesn't juststep in there betrothed to a
man the other thing is thetiming of it all Betrothed to a
man whose name is Joseph.
Next week, we're going to bedoing.
A lot of this is going to becleared and we're going to be
doing the kids' telling of theChristmas story.
(14:56):
It's probably my favorite Sundayof the year, whenever you give
kids an opportunity to get onstage, one of two things happens
.
I think God is always glorified, I think it makes God smile,
but you're raising your hand tosort of say let's see how this
train wreck plays out.
(15:16):
And look, I know half of youshow up just to see it.
Half of you guys go to thosethings to see if when the donkey
walks across, it's going tomake a mess on the floor and
people are going to talk aboutit for two months.
No, live donkeys.
Forewarning.
Okay, when we go and look atthis, I'm willing to bet,
although is there anybody in theroom who's helping with the
kids telling the story right now?
(15:37):
Is there any?
Or are they serving in men?
Okay, amy, does Joseph have aline?
I bet he doesn't.
I bet he doesn't.
In almost every Christmas play Ihave ever seen, a nameless
innkeeper has more to say thanthe guy God picked to raise his
(15:59):
son, and I just have a littlebit of an issue with this.
But we haven't even gotten toMary yet.
Joseph comes up before Marydoes, betrothed to a man whose
name was Joseph.
As far as you know, if you'rereading this for the first time,
you don't even know Mary yetJoseph is the first one onto the
scene.
He's not a prop.
(16:20):
We don't even know who'splaying Joseph.
We probably give that to thekid who's gonna wander off
halfway through because it's nota speaking role.
I could be wrong.
I hope I'm wrong.
I hope Joseph breaks intomonologue next week and he's
like oh Lord that you have givenme such a burden and yet such a
gift that I would.
I hope it happens.
I don't think it will, buthere's what we have.
(16:42):
Do you know that in scriptureJoseph is called the father of
Jesus?
You know that Mary's not justcalled his mother, joseph is
called his father because Goddidn't just choose Mary, he
chose Joseph and his timing wasperfect.
Why?
Why doesn't God send the angelto Mary before she's betrothed?
(17:06):
Doesn't that make more sense?
Why wait until the ring's on tosay, hey, you're about to get
pregnant and you're going tohave to explain this.
Why wait, or why not wait,until at least they're married?
Then they don't have to worryabout explaining it to family
and to friends and to onlookersand to naysayers.
Why bring it at the mostdifficult time?
(17:28):
Because God is doing somethingthat he doesn't want anyone to
miss, and it's not just a virginbearing a child.
It's two people who are verymuch alone.
It's two people who are verymuch alone, two people who are
(17:49):
very much afraid.
And can I tell you, lonely,fearful people make the best
faithful people when we are mostalone, when we are most fearful
.
And when you were a kid it wasphysical fear.
When you get older it's socialfear or future fear, but it's
all the same thing.
And God steps into thatloneliness and he steps into
(18:10):
that fearfulness and he saysthese are the people who will
follow me best.
So be careful that you not tryto always get yourself out of
fearful, lonely, faith-requiringsituations.
Jesus would have called JosephAbba Before, probably before.
(18:33):
He would have referred to hisheavenly father as Abba in the
text that we will see.
He would have picked up afamily vocation.
He didn't just pick carpentrybecause it was the new cool
thing on the block.
It wasn't the computer scienceof their age, it's what his
father did.
He inherited the profession ofhis father who, by the way, was
(18:53):
poor.
He inherited the profession ofhis father who, by the way, was
poor.
God picked lonely, fearful,poor people to be the parents of
the most important child thatwas ever born.
We know they were poor, becauseit tells us in Luke 2 that all
they could offer at the templewas a couple of turtle, doves or
a couple of pigeons.
According to Leviticus 12,that's what poor people gave.
(19:14):
What's really brilliant, if youwant to think about it, is they
didn't realize that golden,frankincense and myrrh were on
the way.
It just hadn't arrived yet thatGod was going to send provision
.
Who might have taught scriptureto young Jesus across a
wood-shaving laden workbench?
Joseph In Matthew 13,.
(19:34):
This is how Jesus is known, isnot this the carpenter's son?
Is not his mother called Mary,and are not his brothers?
James and Joseph, and Simon andJudas?
And Mark will tell you that hehas sisters as well.
Russell Moore puts it this wayJoseph's adoption and protection
of Jesus is simply theoutworking of belief.
(19:57):
It may have never gotten easyfor Joseph to explain Jesus to
people, and yet he was his son.
The text also tells us that hecame from the house of David.
This is Luke lining up thedominoes so that you can watch
Isaiah, chapter 9, come tofruition.
And then we read her name wasMary.
(20:20):
This is how the Bible describesher.
I'll go into that cosmological,theological, incredible thing,
but what I want you to realizeis that here are two people, and
when you think of your nativity, christmas is not a scene, it's
a story.
And if here's what I'm about toask you to do, I'm about to ask
(20:44):
you to change your nativitiesup this Christmas, and I hope it
yields you changing yournativities every single
Christmas.
And if there's a piece oftradition in you that is just
going to die at that, it's notlaw.
Okay, but if tradition is abigger deal to you than
scripture, we should haveanother conversation as well.
Okay, christmas isn't a scene,it's a story.
(21:06):
And the first Christmas beginswith people who are all alone
and likely struggling amidstsevere loneliness.
And I would argue this that ifyou can have a calendar where a
little Santa head hops, if anelf can mischievously move
through your house from shelf toshelf, I bet you could spend a
(21:27):
little bit more than the fiveminutes it takes to set this up
the way that you have set it upevery year, except this year,
the cow will be on the right andthe sheep will be on the left.
Fixing your nativity.
Here's the first thing that Iwould do.
I'm only going to give you twosteps today.
By the way, you'll get to sixor seven by the end of the month
.
Step number one empty yournativity.
(21:51):
And when I say empty it, Idon't just mean the little
drummer boy or the kid who hasan accordion for whatever reason
, who invites them to the birthof a child, right, like who
wants them there in the firstplace, like can we just have a
moment quiet?
Nope, the accordion boy is here, mary, and here comes the
(22:11):
little drummer boy.
Aren't we all excited?
The first thing that I would dois I would empty your nativity,
I would put probably most of thepieces in a box for another
week or so and I would put Maryon one side and I would put
Joseph on the other.
And when your children look andthey say hey, mom, what's wrong
(22:33):
?
You finished dusting, but youdidn't put things back together.
Hey, dad, I think mom's havingone of those Christmas-like
things where she's losing it,for a moment you can say no,
there's a reason that Mary'salone, there's a reason that
Joseph is on the other side,because Christmas began with
people who were very much alone.
(22:55):
And if you ever feel alone and,by the way, let's be honest,
we're not just coming in to themost wonderful time of the year.
We're coming into the loneliesttime of the year.
I tell you this because about45 minutes ago, an hour ago, I
was on the other side.
What time is it?
Hour and a half ago, I was onthe other side of that wall
praying through prayer requests,and the first three I prayed
(23:17):
through were praying for familymembers who had been lost in the
past two or three weeks, whichmeans some of you just had a
first Thanksgiving withoutgrandma.
Some of you will be having afirst Christmas without somebody
that you love, and I just wantyou to know the Bible can handle
your loneliness.
God can handle your lonelinessand if you will be mature about
it, he'll not only handle it,he'll use it, he will grow you,
(23:40):
he'll strengthen you.
You will find new reservoirs offaith if you will lean into and
not out of this loneliness.
Let me prove this to you.
Not only are Mary and Josephalone.
Elizabeth is alone.
The Bible tells us that she'spregnant and she decides to hide
herself.
Anybody want to know how longshe hides herself.
Something like five or sixmonths.
(24:00):
While she's hiding herself andthe Bible doesn't even explain
fully why she's doing this she's88 years old, with a baby bump.
So you can speculate as youwish, but somewhere along the
line she decided to recluse andto hide herself away.
Well, maybe her husband will bea great comfort.
He'll come and read scriptureover her, speak warm words into
(24:22):
her ears.
Nope, he didn't trust God'sword, so now he has become mute.
He is alone, unable to speak tohis wife.
By the way, while this ishappening, there's a guy named
Simeon in Luke 2 who's hangingout I'm not joking waiting to
die.
That's basically what the textsays.
He has lived a full life, he'sdone everything that he desired
(24:44):
to do, but God told him apromise that he would see the
Son of God, the Messiah, who wascoming before he died.
So in his old age he's justhanging out at church all the
time watching all the pregnantpeople, just being like maybe
and I don't know about you, butI have had relatives in my life
who knew the Lord, loved theLord, got up in age and started
(25:05):
saying I'm kind of just waitingto go home, I'm sort of tired of
this place.
And I'm not saying that Simeon,I'm just saying I've met people
in a similar stage of life.
Next to Simeon is probably Anna, who is very much alone because
she's a widow, and she's been awidow for the vast majority of
her life, had a meaningfulmarriage that was cut short.
Why, you'll have to ask theLord.
But she ends up there waitingas well, and all the Bible tells
(25:29):
us is that she is worshipingand fasting and praying.
This single woman who hangs outat church, all of these people,
probably mostly alone, but theBible can handle that.
Lonely moments around Christmasare not a mistake.
They are not just the result ofa broken world.
They are a part of the story ofa new family being created
(25:52):
where loneliness won't andcannot exist.
Psalm 68 tells us that Godprovides homes for those who are
deserted.
Some of you have done this.
You've opened your home, you'veinvited, you've fostered,
you've adopted or you've justlet your children live with you
(26:13):
out of your sheer grace for along period of time.
Right, can I tell you thatJesus had a father who was an
adoptive father.
Joseph would have seen Jesus asan adopted son.
Psalm 34, 18,.
The Lord is near to thebrokenhearted.
He saves the crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of therighteous, not the unrighteous.
(26:35):
Many are the afflictions of therighteous, not the unrighteous.
Yeah, but the Lord delivers himout of them all.
Why does the story begin solonely?
Because that is where God movesmost.
Loneliness is one of the bestplaces to be found by God.
Notice how this played out forJoseph.
We already talked about God'sperfect timing here.
Her husband, joseph, being ajust man unwilling to put her to
(26:58):
shame, resolved to divorce herquietly.
I love this.
But, as he considered thesethings, this is not a man who is
moved by his emotion.
He doesn't make rash decisions.
He looks, he thinks, he reads,he prays.
And in a situation where hisfamily and the culture would
(27:19):
have said, joseph, you justdodged a bullet, honestly, like
I'm glad it happened before andnot after you got married, it
would have been a way biggermess.
He would have had so manyvoices saying, hey, pull the
ripcord, eject, get out of theplane.
He stopped to consider, by theway, that happened before the
angel showed up.
This is not an angel shows upand then he's like well, am I
(27:43):
going to do what God just sentthis miracle to tell me to do?
I'm just stumped here.
No, this is him, like you, witha situation that he cannot make
sense of, saying God, what onearth am I going to do.
And in that fear and in thatloneliness, god shows up.
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He doesn't even visit Josephfirst.
He could have visited themtogether.
Third thing that I will saylonely moments around Christmas
are not a mistake.
They're tucked in.
Secondly, loneliness is one ofthe best places to be found by
God.
The third thing that I willtell you is this If you're not
(28:24):
practicing solitude, I can'tpick a better four or five weeks
for you to do it.
Solitude is a spiritualdiscipline.
If you were to look at howChristians live their lives in
years past, solitude was aregular thing like scripture
reading, prayer and fasting.
Time alone, just quiet, nophone, no notifications, no
screens in front of you, justbeing alone with God and with
(28:47):
your thoughts.
Some of you in this room areforced into that more than you
want to be You're like.
Well, solitude is somethingthat comes very easy for me.
If that's you, I would tell youdon't run from that.
Lean into that.
This is where we find God or,more aptly put, where God often
finds us.
But if you are in a season oflife where being alone is a
(29:10):
difficult thing, choose in thesenext weeks to fight for it.
Put it on your calendar,schedule it.
If you must Wake up a bitearlier, go to bed a bit later.
This is not family worship time.
This is not you reading theBible with your roommate or with
your wife.
This is just you alone in aplace where you can feel most
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alone.
Step one empty out your nativity.
Step two and this one's fun youneed to put some walls on the
stable.
Now, I don't know how many ofyou guys had one.
This is very similar to mine.
Mine has a two-tier roof.
Okay, so I've got that roof andthen I got a little extra room
for the animals off to the side.
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I know it must be nice, but inevery nativity I've ever seen
they have a wall in the back, nowalls on the side and no wall
in the front.
Now, let's be honest, it wouldnot be a very good nativity if
it was a completely walled inbox and you're like opening the
door to see baby Jesus.
I get, it Doesn't make for agood like peace, and we don't
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want to put walls on the side,because how are the little sheep
going to see Jesus?
How will he hear the music fromthe harpist or from the trumpet
player, and why is there anentire band here for the entire
season.
I don't know, I would put wallson your stable Now.
Why would I do that on yourstable Now?
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Why would I do that?
Here's why this, by the way, isone of my favorite things for
you to change about yournativity, because I think it is
one of the most deeply like,meaningful, draws me into the
goodness of God Luke 2, 3through 8.
So Joseph considers these things, he remains with Mary and now
all of these threads thatstarted so very alone are going
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to begin, by the very hand andprovidence of God which was
always his plan, by the way tobe brought together and all went
to be registered, each to hisown town, and Joseph also went
up from Galilee, from the townof Nazareth, to Judea, to the
city of David, which is calledBethlehem, because he was of the
house and lineage of David.
It's a big deal, by the way Tobe registered with Mary, his
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betrothed, who was with child.
And while they were there, thetime came for her to give birth
and she gave birth to herfirstborn son and wrapped him in
swaddling cloths and laid himin a manger, because there was
no place for them in the inn.
By the way, I'm not going tohit the shepherds this week,
just know they're coming in acouple of weeks and in the same
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region there were shepherds outin the field.
What I want you to notice arethese two words of manger and
inn when I tell you I want youto put walls on your and look, I
know very few of you are goingto go.
Dwight would go down to theworkshop.
I would go down to the workshop.
I understand that's probablynot going to happen for many of
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you.
Let me tell you why I think thismatters.
Number one like this doesn'teven make sense.
If you're a mom with a kid andyou're married to Joseph, who
the Bible has said is thisexceptional man, you're gonna
look at him like he has lost hismind.
If you have a child and he sayssweetie, here's what I'm
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thinking One wall and a roof,what do you say?
What do you say?
We're gonna sleep really well,it's gonna be quiet, wind is
never going to.
No, Like my kids go into thefort and build a better lean-to
than we put Jesus in.
Okay.
Why does it matter?
Well, I think it mattersprimarily because it's just not
biblically accurate.
See, what we have doneculturally is.
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We look at the word manger andwe look at the word inn and we
look at Christmas stories andthings that we've seen in the
past and here's what we think.
There's an innkeeper who, bythe way, is my favorite and my
favorite year was when CadenCrumpacker I think it was Caden,
some of you remember this wasthe innkeeper and like Mary and
Joseph are bringing baby Jesusand Caden goes there's no room
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off.
You go and you're just like,does he have to be mean all the
time?
Like he's killing it.
Right now Every room is full,right Like premium pricing in
the Bethlehem Inn.
I don't think he's that upset.
What we do is we take these twoconcepts and we slam them
together and it gives us apicture that the Bible actually
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does not.
And here's what's great aboutthis that loneliness is likely
to end or at least change a lotright here.
When Joseph, who is of the houseand lineage of David, slides
into Bethlehem, he would havebeen honor bound in that culture
to find a family member.
So if he's just going to theBethlehem Inn, he is either
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being a sort of like a badrelative by sliding into town
and then sliding out withouttelling family that you're there
and we don't see that.
In Joseph we see an honorableman.
He would have been honor boundto go and find family and, with
that family, to be welcome tothem.
They may not have known who hewas, but all he would have to
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have done was say, hey, I'mJoseph, son of Jacob, son of
Nathan, son of Eleazar, son ofElliot.
And they would have said,joseph, welcome back to
Bethlehem.
I see that your wife is showing.
Can we get you a place to stayoutside, with animals and no
walls?
Welcome home.
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No, that's probably not whathappened, although the first
Christmas probably did includeboth joy at seeing family and
difficulty in that same family.
They might have had somequestions.
Joseph, I noticed there's not aring on your finger and I
notice that Mary has put onweight in a very odd place.
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If you're not married, how muchof their family would have
believed the story?
The shepherds haven't made ityet, which means, once again,
god could have made this easier,but he doesn't, because his
greatest desire is to buildfaith in you, not create ease
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for you.
Did the family buy their storyOnce the shepherds showed up?
Did they then that these bluecollar men all of a sudden began
worshiping.
Let's go and see what God hasdone Luke 2.15.
They return glorifying God forwhat they had seen and heard
when they walk into this placeLuke 2.20.
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The reason I would tell you toput walls on your stable is
because it probably isn't astable.
It also probably isn't an inn.
I've pointed this out to youguys so many times.
This is my favorite Biblereading plan.
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It's by a woman named Tara LeeCobble.
If you aren't checking it out,january tends to be a great time
to start.
I'm just throwing this up foryou because this has been such a
gift to me and I wanna pointout to you something that she
has pointed out.
Now, if you didn't notice it inyour Bible reading plan, you
may have noticed it if you wereto dig more deeply.
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If you have a study Bible, thisis the study Bible I use.
It's the ESV.
Study Bible just means you paidan extra $20 to somebody at the
bottom is explaining to you thestuff that is above.
I highly recommend it.
My two favorite are the ESV andthe CSB study Bibles.
This is the ESV.
If you're reading it and I knowy'all can't read all of this and
you get all the way down toverse three, you'll see this
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little number three and the wordin there.
In italics it says or guestroom.
Let me tell you why I thinkthis matters and why I think you
should begin repicturing thisin your mind.
The in in Luke comes from.
I'm going to give you a littlebit of Greek.
Okay, it's going to take all oftwo minutes.
So if you're going to zone out,I'm just telling you I need 120
(37:06):
seconds of you hitting the swigof coffee and I promise you it
is worth it.
There are two times here thatyou're going to see the word in
in the gospel of Luke.
One in two seven, which I havejust read to you.
There was no place for them inthe inn Pronounced here.
I wrote it down katalima.
Okay.
I'm always upset when peoplecome and tell me I say Greek
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words wrong.
Okay, so I'm doing my best here.
I could say Catalina dressingand 99% of you wouldn't even
care.
But for the 1% who doeskatalima, that means in our
rendering in the other placethat we see it the word in right
here pendoheion.
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He went to him, bound up hiswounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Then he set him on his ownanimal, brought him to an inn
and took care of him.
What is this?
A story of the Good Samaritan?
All right.
What I want you to understand isLuke, who is a doctor, who is
very good with terminology andis very educated, uses two
different words here for theterm in.
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There's one other time that hedoes this, and he does it in
Luke 22, 11.
Tell the master of the house.
The teacher says to you whereis the catalema, where I may eat
the Passover with my disciples?
Here is what I want you torealize this is the last supper
(38:34):
Passover.
This is Jesus being born in amanger.
If Luke had wanted you topicture an inn, it makes more
sense for him to use this word,but he doesn't.
So it seems like what Luke, andtherefore what God, wants you
to picture instead is a roomvery similar to where Jesus had
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his last meal, an upper room,which means it was of a fairly
wealthy person, which actuallymakes sense, because if I'm
Joseph traveling to Bethlehemand I have a number of relatives
and my wife is pregnant, do youknow whose house I'm picking?
The rich relative.
That's where I'm going, becauseI don't want my wife sleeping
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in a lean-to next to a donkey,that's why.
So I'm going to the richestuncle I've got, I'm going to the
one who always gave me the bestChristmas gift, and I'm showing
up.
Hey, it's Joseph.
If you don't remember me,here's the lineage.
Hey, I've got my wife.
She's pregnant.
Is there any place that we canstay?
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And he says, oh my gosh, Idon't have any room in the guest
room right now.
This is how he arrives, cominginto this place, looking for a
place in the family home, andwhat probably happened was this
the guest room was full.
Why wouldn't it be?
There was a census taken?
Bethlehem is busting at thegills.
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Joseph shows up and knocks onthe door and that relative, who
probably didn't send them away,said ah, the best room for you
is already taken for now.
Can you just stay here when?
Well, in the lowest floor ofthe house, most of which would
have had a manger built into itbecause in cold winter nights
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the animals would have beenbrought in we probably don't
have Joseph showing up and beingshooed away from the Bethlehem
Inn.
We have him going to one of thewealthiest members of his
family who is saying oh, we'vealready got Nana sleeping in the
guest room.
Can you just stay in the dentonight and, by the way, that's
pretty convenient because that'swhere the manger is anyway,
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which would make for a reallygood makeshift cradle and they
stay most likely with family,not outside.
By the way, this also means youneed to get rid of the idea of
an angry innkeeper, and that'sgoing to create problems for
next week, and I realize that.
Tell the master of the house.
(41:10):
The teacher says to you whereis the guest room where I may
eat the Passover with mydisciples?
Here is what we see.
Jesus was the Lord of creation.
Jesus was the Lord of creation.
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He was the King of kings.
Yet in his first home and athis last meal he resided as a
guest, because this never washis home, but from this place he
would build a family and hewould call them home.
This is why Christmas startswith people very alone and
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lonely.
This is why Christmas startswith so much fear and so much
doubt, because the goal wasnever for God to get Jesus to
sleep next to a donkey.
The goal was for him to getthem home, but not fully home,
as a guest in a home, and thento look at you and I and say, if
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you can't see it.
Yet you will Give it a fewdecades and you're going to see
that the one who came and shouldhave been on a throne of gold
but is not.
Instead, he has come as a guest, now looks at you and says you
do not deserve to be broughtinto my home, but I will go and
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prepare a room for you.
This is not what Jesus said tohis disciples for you.
This is not what Jesus said tohis disciples.
I will go and, through my ownbody and through my own blood, I
will make you a guest into ahome where loneliness goes to
die, where a family is createdthat will never branch out or
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break.
Nativity isn't just where we goto prepare hymn room.
The nativity is where God wentto prepare yours.
Now, I told you I would closeby explaining to you why the
virgin mattered so much, thiscosmological thing, and so I
want to end with this as we getready to come to the table.
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For those of you who arebelievers, this passage in
Romans is explaining to you why,before we knew her as Mary, we
knew her as virgin.
Why is that the first tag thatscripture gives her?
Because, just as sin came intothe world through one man, adam.
(43:44):
Man, adam, and death camethrough sin.
So death spread to all men, allmankind, because all sinned.
This is your birthright, and itdoesn't matter if you're a
Christian, doesn't matter ifyou're a non-Christian, doesn't
matter if you've been going tochurch your whole life or if you
haven't walked into a church in20, 30 years or ever.
(44:05):
This is your heritage.
One man, adam, who messed it uppretty bad and tucked into him
and his DNA is this desire tograsp for things that are not
his, not to come as a guest intoa world that he didn't create,
but to come as though he ownedthe whole place which, by the
(44:26):
way, is the very nature of yourown selfishness that you own the
things around you, your owntime, the people, the decisions
that you make.
And because of that, deathspread to all men, because all
sinned.
But that isn't the whole story.
It isn't a whole story becausethere was a cradle and because
there was a cross.
So, therefore, as one trespassled to condemnation for all men,
(44:53):
so one act of righteousnessleads to justification for all
men.
This is the cradle and thecross.
Jesus came for this one act ofrighteousness so that every one
(45:14):
of your acts of unrighteousnesscould be paid for, and he
painstakingly came, separatefrom his father, on a cross, all
alone.
My God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
Because the Christmas storystarts with people who are alone
and have every reason to fear,and the story of Christianity
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ends with somebody who is allalone and would have had every
reason to fear, except he wasrighteous.
So he died, and three dayslater God looked at that
sacrifice and he said enough.
And Christ rose from the deadand a family was born.
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A family was born not by bloodbut by faith.
But to all who do receive him,who believe in his name, he gave
the right to become children ofGod.
Jesus knew what it was to beadopted, and if you know Jesus,
you too will know what it's liketo be adopted, because we are
(46:20):
born not of blood, nor of thewill of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God.
And this is what we celebratetoday that in all of the
loneliness and all of thebrokenness there's hope.
That in all of the separation,god draws people near, in all of
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our desire to own our world.
God says I've come as a guestand I invite you to come as one
as well.
But if you will come to my home, you will come to a family that
never ends.
Isn't this the greatest offerthat we could be given?
And it began many years ago,not in a golden cradle, but in a
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straw-filled manger, where Godplaced his son and invites you
to become his son as well.
Let me tell you what we're going to be doing this
Advent.
We're going to be, in a sense,moving away from Luke.
In some senses we're not movingaway at all, because the
account of the Advent happens intwo books of the Bible
primarily, that is, matthew andLuke.
And so we're going to belooking in Luke, we're going to
be looking in Matthew, but Iwanted to come up with a
creative way for us to enjoyAdvent this season.
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And I say that my wife has beensaying for like three years
Will will you please just dothis?
And after four years Isuccumbed and I was like, yes, I
absolutely will.
And so what we're going to bedoing is a small series called
Fixing your Nativity, to fixyour heart on the true and
better story.
Out of curiosity, who has anativity in their yard, in their
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house?
Somewhere it's floating around?
Okay, the vast majority of youguys.
Okay, cool, cool.
I'm not telling you you musthave one to be a Christian.
I'm just saying lots ofChristians do.
When I was a kid, everyChristmas one of the gifts that
I would open was I don't knowhow to pronounce it Fontini.
One of the gifts that I wouldopen was I don't know how to
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pronounce it Fontini, fontanini.
Thank you, mom, who bought itfor me.
I would get one of these littlelike characters for my nativity
right and now it's like ourfamily nativity, which is really
cool.
I will say, mom, I didn't knowyou were gonna be here at
service one, hi.
I just want you to know Ireally appreciate those gifts,
as I undo a lot of the work ofwhat Fontanita has put in to the
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major.
I just want you to know like Istill very much appreciate it as
I now go and say that'sprobably not the most accurate
thing.
So we're going to be workingthrough that text in scripture
and I just want to show you thisis how many nativities we have
in the hawk house.
Every shelf has one, by the way, it is important that you know
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this.
This is not because we knewthis is what I was going to be
preaching on.
My wife has collectednativities like they're going to
go out of style or as thoughthey're going to be valued at
bitcoin rates in the comingyears.
So if they ever become acurrency, we are well set.
(02:12):
And in those, let me say, can?
I can say okay, some of themare like little kiddie ones, and
then I I don't know where theone is.
There it is.
There's the one that my mom gotme, the Fontanine.
That's like the classic one,but I just want you to know that
I am coming to you as someonewho sees this a lot.
Now let me tell you why I thinkthis is a good thing for us to
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do.
Number one, and I think veryimportantly, I want you to know
the true biblical account.
I want you to know whatscripture actually says, because
we have so many cultural myths.
I want you to know what theBible says.
But the reason that I want youto know what the Bible says is I
think the story is better.
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I think the true story has deepmeanings that sometimes we can
miss out on just because thelittle sheep is so cute and we
just want to tuck it in realclose to Jesus, who is the lamb
of God, and we have these littlemoments as we are setting
things up.
Second thing is this I want youChristians in the room not
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assuming here Christians in theroom.
I want every Christmas this oneand however many God graciously
gives you, gives your family,gives your children, gives your
grandmother, every one of them.
I want the nativity to besomething that captures not just
your eyes but captures yourheart for a theology of a story
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of a God who came humbly becausehe cares for you.
I want us to tether this deepgospel truth to your nativity so
that each year you're remindedabout God's generous grace.
And I think this is a very goodconversation tool.
I think one it's good for yourown self-conversation as you
(04:02):
look at it and you wrestle withyour own sort of thoughts on
Advent and Christmas.
If you have children.
I can think of no better way tolean into some really good
conversations than for your kidsall of a sudden, maybe after
this Sunday, to say why isn'tthere anybody in the Advent?
And what is Joseph doing on thekitchen counter?
And you say, well, let me tellyou.
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Or your guests come and theywonder why is it that the angel
is there and it's not here?
And the star is there and it'snot here?
Why does your nativity look sobroken?
Didn't you know we were comingover?
Couldn't you have cleaned up alittle bit?
No, that's where I wanted thewise men at the top of the
stairs.
That's where I wanted them.
Let me tell you why.
Now the other thing is, I don'tjust want to skim.
(04:46):
If there's something that Iknow about you as a people, you
really love the Bible and youlove the depth of the Bible, and
so over the next few weeks, weare going to dig deep and I
believe you're going to findsome things that cause your
heart to warm in all the rightways as we get ready for
Christmas.
So with that, let's go aheadand take a look.
(05:09):
Let me just show you theChristmas story timeline.
If you want to see this, Idon't mind if you get on your
phones, bible Gateway has thislittle timeline.
If you want to know how all ofthe stories intersect from
prophecy and New Testament, youcan just get out and Google this
and you'll be able to find theChristmas story timeline.
But I just want you to see howit begins.
(05:30):
We've got Joseph, we've gotMary, we have Elizabeth.
Zachariah will come on to thesame stage a few moments later
with John the Baptist and wehave the angel Gabriel.
The story progresses this wayMary visits Elizabeth, an angel,
where it will appear to Joseph.
They'll travel to Bethlehem.
Jesus will be born, presentedat the temple.
(05:50):
The Magi will visit Jerusalemand Jesus.
They will leave to go to Egypt,to return to Israel and then
eventually back to Nazareth.
But the reason that I want toshow you this timeline one, I
think it's really, really cool.
But two, I want you to noticethis Christmas begins with
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people being very much alone.
I just want you to notice thatwe slide from Thanksgiving so
quickly into Christmas that welump all four or five weeks
together as family or relativesor time together, hustle and
bustle, full tables, detailedmeal lists and thoughts, travel
(06:37):
plans.
And I just want to steady yourheart to begin like this
Christmas.
The very first one started witha man who felt very alone and
confused, with a young lady whofelt very alone and confused,
with an old lady who was excitedbut also fairly confused, with
(07:00):
her husband who was confused,and all of them trying to
navigate.
What is God doing?
Let me pray for us, father, aswe dive into this text.
My greatest desire is that yourspirit would dive in and among
us, for the Christians in thisroom, looking at a text that
many of us could quote, or atleast quote pretty, pretty well,
because we've heard it so manytimes.
(07:21):
Would you, through your spirit,give us fresh eyes, fresh heart
, give us this sort of spiritualposture, of leaning forward,
because we are reading theinfallible, powerful word of God
, and not one piece of it, notone letter, not one syllable is
wasted by you, and so I praythat it wouldn't be wasted by me
(07:42):
and I pray that it wouldn't bewasted by us.
Father, for those in this roomwho feel alone, for those who
look at Christmas season with abit of dread, I pray that, in
the short time that we are goingto spend together this morning,
that you would begin to opentheir eyes, open their minds and
open their hearts to see theway that you build family,
(08:04):
family with a capital F, familynot made by blood but made by a
spirit.
And just in this time, together, that loneliness would be used
by you to drive us nearer to you, that we would have a greater
love for you, that we would havea greater love for people who
may be struggling with it aswell.
But, father, would you alsoshow us how you have invited us
(08:25):
guests to the table of a king,guests who did not deserve to be
there.
And I pray all of these thingsin Jesus' name, amen.
All right, let's take a look,beginning in Luke, chapter 1,
verse 26.
I'm going to compare Luke 1 26and Matthew 1 18, but let's just
(08:45):
take a look here.
In the sixth month, the angelGabriel was sent from God to a
city of Galilee named Nazareth,to a virgin betrothed, to a man
whose name was Joseph of thehouse of David, and the virgin's
name was Mary.
And he came to her and saidgreetings, o favored one.
The Lord is with you.
But she was greatly troubled atthe saying and tried to discern
(09:08):
what sort of greeting thismight be.
The angel said to her do not beafraid, mary, for you have
found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceivein your womb and bear a son, and
you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great and will becalled the son of the most high
(09:28):
and the Lord God will give tohim the throne of his father,
david, and he will reign overthe house of Jacob forever and
of his kingdom there will be noend.
I'm just going to hit pausethere for a minute.
That's a mouthful for an angelto say when you're about a 14,
15-year-old little girl, tryingto figure out what life is going
to look like when you'rebetrothed, is not near you and
(09:48):
all of a sudden this angelicpresence shows up.
And yet here is how Maryresponds.
And Mary said to the angel howwill this be, since I am a
virgin?
And the angel answered her theHoly Spirit will come upon you
and the power of the most highwill overshadow you.
Therefore, the child to be bornwill be called Holy, the Son of
(10:10):
God.
God sends this message to Marywhen she is all alone, and the
Bible tells us that she wasfearful In some capacity.
She is greatly troubled at this, but I want you to notice
something else as well.
Here is a story of Joseph,matthew 1.
(10:34):
Now, the birth of Jesus Christtook place in this way when his
mother, mary, had been betrothedto Joseph.
Before they came together, shewas found to be with child from
the Holy Spirit and her husbandJoseph please don't miss this
being a just man, unwilling toput her to shame, resolved to
divorce her quietly.
(10:55):
There are not many good menlike Joseph on the planet now
and, I think, probably muchsimilar in this day and age.
Joseph is raising his hand fora more difficult task.
He is showing preference tosomeone that he thinks has
absolutely wrecked his trust,someone who he loved, someone
(11:18):
who must have deceived him.
But as he considered thesethings.
As he considered these things,behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dreamsaying Joseph, son of David, do
not fear to take Mary as yourwife, for that which is
conceived in her is from theHoly Spirit.
She will bear a son, and youshall call his name Jesus, for
(11:39):
he will save his people fromtheir sins.
All this took place to fulfillwhat the Lord had spoken by the
prophet.
I just want you to notice thisGod could have sent this angel
when the two of them weretogether.
Have you ever thought aboutthat?
Have you ever thought about howmuch different Joseph's story
would have been if he and Marywere going to Carabas just on a
(12:00):
date, trying to do life together?
Hey, looking forward to theseason?
How about you?
Yeah, me too.
You wanna go out?
We'll get some noodles, it'llbe great, yeah.
And then, on the way they hopoff their donkey and an angel
shows up and he says hey, guys,just wanted to let you know.
Here's the story.
Have you ever wondered why Goddidn't do it that way?
Why does he go to them whenthey are separate and when they
(12:22):
are alone?
Why is it that the thing thatMary and Joseph most have in
common is that both of them, insome capacity, are troubled or
fearful.
Why, by the way?
I'm realizing in this moment,with a new background, my pen is
not nearly as effective as itused to be and half of you guys
can't even see what I'm doing.
So I'm going to try to figurethis out on the fly, because we
(12:44):
have a new background slide,since it's Advent.
Let's see, that's thicker,that'll work.
Trust me on this.
She was greatly troubled, andJoseph is too.
Why does Christmas start withpeople alone and why does
Christmas start with people whoare fearful?
If you were to, if you were todescribe Mary to someone and you
(13:04):
had to come up with one or twowords, you don't have to answer
out loud.
The last thing I want is peoplejust yelling the word virginity
at me while I'm up here.
Okay, but if you were to try todescribe Mary to someone using
one or two words, I wonder whatwords you would use.
I'll tell you.
I don't want you to pick one ortwo.
You see, when I read this story, I read so quickly through this
(13:27):
that I get to Mary much fasterthan our text does.
Here is how Gabriel presentsthis message.
This is how God's word wantsyou to see Mary, and let me just
give you a hint Her name is thelast thing that comes up.
Here's what the Bible actuallywants you to see.
The Bible wants you to see avirgin, and the reason that it
(13:50):
wants you to see that is becauseyou are going to watch in the
days that, in the next three tosix months forward slash 33
years.
This one word is going tochange the course of human
history.
It's not just a note.
This is of cosmological,theological importance.
(14:13):
Mary had to be a virgin forJesus to be able to be both
fully God and fully man, fullyabsorb the wrath of God and
fully represent us as well.
Before the Bible ever saysanything about Mary, it says hey
, I want you to notice thistheological reality that God is
(14:35):
stepping in, but he doesn't juststep in there betrothed to a
man the other thing is thetiming of it all Betrothed to a
man whose name is Joseph.
Next week, we're going to bedoing.
A lot of this is going to becleared and we're going to be
doing the kids' telling of theChristmas story.
(14:56):
It's probably my favorite Sundayof the year, whenever you give
kids an opportunity to get onstage, one of two things happens
.
I think God is always glorified, I think it makes God smile,
but you're raising your hand tosort of say let's see how this
train wreck plays out.
(15:16):
And look, I know half of youshow up just to see it.
Half of you guys go to thosethings to see if when the donkey
walks across, it's going tomake a mess on the floor and
people are going to talk aboutit for two months.
No, live donkeys.
Forewarning.
Okay, when we go and look atthis, I'm willing to bet,
although is there anybody in theroom who's helping with the
kids telling the story right now?
(15:37):
Is there any?
Or are they serving in men?
Okay, amy, does Joseph have aline?
I bet he doesn't.
I bet he doesn't.
In almost every Christmas play Ihave ever seen, a nameless
innkeeper has more to say thanthe guy God picked to raise his
(15:59):
son, and I just have a littlebit of an issue with this.
But we haven't even gotten toMary yet.
Joseph comes up before Marydoes, betrothed to a man whose
name was Joseph.
As far as you know, if you'rereading this for the first time,
you don't even know Mary yetJoseph is the first one onto the
scene.
He's not a prop.
(16:20):
We don't even know who'splaying Joseph.
We probably give that to thekid who's gonna wander off
halfway through because it's nota speaking role.
I could be wrong.
I hope I'm wrong.
I hope Joseph breaks intomonologue next week and he's
like oh Lord that you have givenme such a burden and yet such a
gift that I would.
I hope it happens.
I don't think it will, buthere's what we have.
(16:42):
Do you know that in scriptureJoseph is called the father of
Jesus?
You know that Mary's not justcalled his mother, joseph is
called his father because Goddidn't just choose Mary, he
chose Joseph and his timing wasperfect.
Why?
Why doesn't God send the angelto Mary before she's betrothed?
(17:06):
Doesn't that make more sense?
Why wait until the ring's on tosay, hey, you're about to get
pregnant and you're going tohave to explain this.
Why wait, or why not wait,until at least they're married?
Then they don't have to worryabout explaining it to family
and to friends and to onlookersand to naysayers.
Why bring it at the mostdifficult time?
(17:28):
Because God is doing somethingthat he doesn't want anyone to
miss, and it's not just a virginbearing a child.
It's two people who are verymuch alone.
It's two people who are verymuch alone, two people who are
(17:49):
very much afraid.
And can I tell you, lonely,fearful people make the best
faithful people when we are mostalone, when we are most fearful
.
And when you were a kid it wasphysical fear.
When you get older it's socialfear or future fear, but it's
all the same thing.
And God steps into thatloneliness and he steps into
(18:10):
that fearfulness and he saysthese are the people who will
follow me best.
So be careful that you not tryto always get yourself out of
fearful, lonely, faith-requiringsituations.
Jesus would have called JosephAbba Before, probably before.
(18:33):
He would have referred to hisheavenly father as Abba in the
text that we will see.
He would have picked up afamily vocation.
He didn't just pick carpentrybecause it was the new cool
thing on the block.
It wasn't the computer scienceof their age, it's what his
father did.
He inherited the profession ofhis father who, by the way, was
(18:53):
poor.
He inherited the profession ofhis father who, by the way, was
poor.
God picked lonely, fearful,poor people to be the parents of
the most important child thatwas ever born.
We know they were poor, becauseit tells us in Luke 2 that all
they could offer at the templewas a couple of turtle, doves or
a couple of pigeons.
According to Leviticus 12,that's what poor people gave.
(19:14):
What's really brilliant, if youwant to think about it, is they
didn't realize that golden,frankincense and myrrh were on
the way.
It just hadn't arrived yet thatGod was going to send provision
.
Who might have taught scriptureto young Jesus across a
wood-shaving laden workbench?
Joseph In Matthew 13,.
(19:34):
This is how Jesus is known, isnot this the carpenter's son?
Is not his mother called Mary,and are not his brothers?
James and Joseph, and Simon andJudas?
And Mark will tell you that hehas sisters as well.
Russell Moore puts it this wayJoseph's adoption and protection
of Jesus is simply theoutworking of belief.
(19:57):
It may have never gotten easyfor Joseph to explain Jesus to
people, and yet he was his son.
The text also tells us that hecame from the house of David.
This is Luke lining up thedominoes so that you can watch
Isaiah, chapter 9, come tofruition.
And then we read her name wasMary.
(20:20):
This is how the Bible describesher.
I'll go into that cosmological,theological, incredible thing,
but what I want you to realizeis that here are two people, and
when you think of your nativity, christmas is not a scene, it's
a story.
And if here's what I'm about toask you to do, I'm about to ask
(20:44):
you to change your nativitiesup this Christmas, and I hope it
yields you changing yournativities every single
Christmas.
And if there's a piece oftradition in you that is just
going to die at that, it's notlaw.
Okay, but if tradition is abigger deal to you than
scripture, we should haveanother conversation as well.
Okay, christmas isn't a scene,it's a story.
(21:06):
And the first Christmas beginswith people who are all alone
and likely struggling amidstsevere loneliness.
And I would argue this that ifyou can have a calendar where a
little Santa head hops, if anelf can mischievously move
through your house from shelf toshelf, I bet you could spend a
(21:27):
little bit more than the fiveminutes it takes to set this up
the way that you have set it upevery year, except this year,
the cow will be on the right andthe sheep will be on the left.
Fixing your nativity.
Here's the first thing that Iwould do.
I'm only going to give you twosteps today.
By the way, you'll get to sixor seven by the end of the month
.
Step number one empty yournativity.
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And when I say empty it, Idon't just mean the little
drummer boy or the kid who hasan accordion for whatever reason
, who invites them to the birthof a child, right, like who
wants them there in the firstplace, like can we just have a
moment quiet?
Nope, the accordion boy is here, mary, and here comes the
(22:11):
little drummer boy.
Aren't we all excited?
The first thing that I would dois I would empty your nativity,
I would put probably most of thepieces in a box for another
week or so and I would put Maryon one side and I would put
Joseph on the other.
And when your children look andthey say hey, mom, what's wrong
(22:33):
?
You finished dusting, but youdidn't put things back together.
Hey, dad, I think mom's havingone of those Christmas-like
things where she's losing it,for a moment you can say no,
there's a reason that Mary'salone, there's a reason that
Joseph is on the other side,because Christmas began with
people who were very much alone.
(22:55):
And if you ever feel alone and,by the way, let's be honest,
we're not just coming in to themost wonderful time of the year.
We're coming into the loneliesttime of the year.
I tell you this because about45 minutes ago, an hour ago, I
was on the other side.
What time is it?
Hour and a half ago, I was onthe other side of that wall
praying through prayer requests,and the first three I prayed
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through were praying for familymembers who had been lost in the
past two or three weeks, whichmeans some of you just had a
first Thanksgiving withoutgrandma.
Some of you will be having afirst Christmas without somebody
that you love, and I just wantyou to know the Bible can handle
your loneliness.
God can handle your lonelinessand if you will be mature about
it, he'll not only handle it,he'll use it, he will grow you,
(23:40):
he'll strengthen you.
You will find new reservoirs offaith if you will lean into and
not out of this loneliness.
Let me prove this to you.
Not only are Mary and Josephalone.
Elizabeth is alone.
The Bible tells us that she'spregnant and she decides to hide
herself.
Anybody want to know how longshe hides herself.
Something like five or sixmonths.
(24:00):
While she's hiding herself andthe Bible doesn't even explain
fully why she's doing this she's88 years old, with a baby bump.
So you can speculate as youwish, but somewhere along the
line she decided to recluse andto hide herself away.
Well, maybe her husband will bea great comfort.
He'll come and read scriptureover her, speak warm words into
(24:22):
her ears.
Nope, he didn't trust God'sword, so now he has become mute.
He is alone, unable to speak tohis wife.
By the way, while this ishappening, there's a guy named
Simeon in Luke 2 who's hangingout I'm not joking waiting to
die.
That's basically what the textsays.
He has lived a full life, he'sdone everything that he desired
(24:44):
to do, but God told him apromise that he would see the
Son of God, the Messiah, who wascoming before he died.
So in his old age he's justhanging out at church all the
time watching all the pregnantpeople, just being like maybe
and I don't know about you, butI have had relatives in my life
who knew the Lord, loved theLord, got up in age and started
(25:05):
saying I'm kind of just waitingto go home, I'm sort of tired of
this place.
And I'm not saying that Simeon,I'm just saying I've met people
in a similar stage of life.
Next to Simeon is probably Anna, who is very much alone because
she's a widow, and she's been awidow for the vast majority of
her life, had a meaningfulmarriage that was cut short.
Why, you'll have to ask theLord.
But she ends up there waitingas well, and all the Bible tells
(25:29):
us is that she is worshipingand fasting and praying.
This single woman who hangs outat church, all of these people,
probably mostly alone, but theBible can handle that.
Lonely moments around Christmasare not a mistake.
They are not just the result ofa broken world.
They are a part of the story ofa new family being created
(25:52):
where loneliness won't andcannot exist.
Psalm 68 tells us that Godprovides homes for those who are
deserted.
Some of you have done this.
You've opened your home, you'veinvited, you've fostered,
you've adopted or you've justlet your children live with you
(26:13):
out of your sheer grace for along period of time.
Right, can I tell you thatJesus had a father who was an
adoptive father.
Joseph would have seen Jesus asan adopted son.
Psalm 34, 18,.
The Lord is near to thebrokenhearted.
He saves the crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of therighteous, not the unrighteous.
(26:35):
Many are the afflictions of therighteous, not the unrighteous.
Yeah, but the Lord delivers himout of them all.
Why does the story begin solonely?
Because that is where God movesmost.
Loneliness is one of the bestplaces to be found by God.
Notice how this played out forJoseph.
We already talked about God'sperfect timing here.
Her husband, joseph, being ajust man unwilling to put her to
(26:58):
shame, resolved to divorce herquietly.
I love this.
But, as he considered thesethings, this is not a man who is
moved by his emotion.
He doesn't make rash decisions.
He looks, he thinks, he reads,he prays.
And in a situation where hisfamily and the culture would
(27:19):
have said, joseph, you justdodged a bullet, honestly, like
I'm glad it happened before andnot after you got married, it
would have been a way biggermess.
He would have had so manyvoices saying, hey, pull the
ripcord, eject, get out of theplane.
He stopped to consider, by theway, that happened before the
angel showed up.
This is not an angel shows upand then he's like well, am I
(27:43):
going to do what God just sentthis miracle to tell me to do?
I'm just stumped here.
No, this is him, like you, witha situation that he cannot make
sense of, saying God, what onearth am I going to do.
And in that fear and in thatloneliness, god shows up.
(28:04):
He doesn't even visit Josephfirst.
He could have visited themtogether.
Third thing that I will saylonely moments around Christmas
are not a mistake.
They're tucked in.
Secondly, loneliness is one ofthe best places to be found by
God.
The third thing that I willtell you is this If you're not
(28:24):
practicing solitude, I can'tpick a better four or five weeks
for you to do it.
Solitude is a spiritualdiscipline.
If you were to look at howChristians live their lives in
years past, solitude was aregular thing like scripture
reading, prayer and fasting.
Time alone, just quiet, nophone, no notifications, no
screens in front of you, justbeing alone with God and with
(28:47):
your thoughts.
Some of you in this room areforced into that more than you
want to be You're like.
Well, solitude is somethingthat comes very easy for me.
If that's you, I would tell youdon't run from that.
Lean into that.
This is where we find God or,more aptly put, where God often
finds us.
But if you are in a season oflife where being alone is a
(29:10):
difficult thing, choose in thesenext weeks to fight for it.
Put it on your calendar,schedule it.
If you must Wake up a bitearlier, go to bed a bit later.
This is not family worship time.
This is not you reading theBible with your roommate or with
your wife.
This is just you alone in aplace where you can feel most
(29:34):
alone.
Step one empty out your nativity.
Step two and this one's fun youneed to put some walls on the
stable.
Now, I don't know how many ofyou guys had one.
This is very similar to mine.
Mine has a two-tier roof.
Okay, so I've got that roof andthen I got a little extra room
for the animals off to the side.
(29:54):
I know it must be nice, but inevery nativity I've ever seen
they have a wall in the back, nowalls on the side and no wall
in the front.
Now, let's be honest, it wouldnot be a very good nativity if
it was a completely walled inbox and you're like opening the
door to see baby Jesus.
I get, it Doesn't make for agood like peace, and we don't
(30:16):
want to put walls on the side,because how are the little sheep
going to see Jesus?
How will he hear the music fromthe harpist or from the trumpet
player, and why is there anentire band here for the entire
season.
I don't know, I would put wallson your stable Now.
Why would I do that on yourstable Now?
(30:38):
Why would I do that?
Here's why this, by the way, isone of my favorite things for
you to change about yournativity, because I think it is
one of the most deeply like,meaningful, draws me into the
goodness of God Luke 2, 3through 8.
So Joseph considers these things, he remains with Mary and now
all of these threads thatstarted so very alone are going
(30:58):
to begin, by the very hand andprovidence of God which was
always his plan, by the way tobe brought together and all went
to be registered, each to hisown town, and Joseph also went
up from Galilee, from the townof Nazareth, to Judea, to the
city of David, which is calledBethlehem, because he was of the
house and lineage of David.
It's a big deal, by the way Tobe registered with Mary, his
(31:20):
betrothed, who was with child.
And while they were there, thetime came for her to give birth
and she gave birth to herfirstborn son and wrapped him in
swaddling cloths and laid himin a manger, because there was
no place for them in the inn.
By the way, I'm not going tohit the shepherds this week,
just know they're coming in acouple of weeks and in the same
(31:40):
region there were shepherds outin the field.
What I want you to notice arethese two words of manger and
inn when I tell you I want youto put walls on your and look, I
know very few of you are goingto go.
Dwight would go down to theworkshop.
I would go down to the workshop.
I understand that's probablynot going to happen for many of
(32:02):
you.
Let me tell you why I think thismatters.
Number one like this doesn'teven make sense.
If you're a mom with a kid andyou're married to Joseph, who
the Bible has said is thisexceptional man, you're gonna
look at him like he has lost hismind.
If you have a child and he sayssweetie, here's what I'm
(32:24):
thinking One wall and a roof,what do you say?
What do you say?
We're gonna sleep really well,it's gonna be quiet, wind is
never going to.
No, Like my kids go into thefort and build a better lean-to
than we put Jesus in.
Okay.
Why does it matter?
Well, I think it mattersprimarily because it's just not
biblically accurate.
See, what we have doneculturally is.
(32:47):
We look at the word manger andwe look at the word inn and we
look at Christmas stories andthings that we've seen in the
past and here's what we think.
There's an innkeeper who, bythe way, is my favorite and my
favorite year was when CadenCrumpacker I think it was Caden,
some of you remember this wasthe innkeeper and like Mary and
Joseph are bringing baby Jesusand Caden goes there's no room
(33:10):
off.
You go and you're just like,does he have to be mean all the
time?
Like he's killing it.
Right now Every room is full,right Like premium pricing in
the Bethlehem Inn.
I don't think he's that upset.
What we do is we take these twoconcepts and we slam them
together and it gives us apicture that the Bible actually
(33:31):
does not.
And here's what's great aboutthis that loneliness is likely
to end or at least change a lotright here.
When Joseph, who is of the houseand lineage of David, slides
into Bethlehem, he would havebeen honor bound in that culture
to find a family member.
So if he's just going to theBethlehem Inn, he is either
(33:55):
being a sort of like a badrelative by sliding into town
and then sliding out withouttelling family that you're there
and we don't see that.
In Joseph we see an honorableman.
He would have been honor boundto go and find family and, with
that family, to be welcome tothem.
They may not have known who hewas, but all he would have to
(34:18):
have done was say, hey, I'mJoseph, son of Jacob, son of
Nathan, son of Eleazar, son ofElliot.
And they would have said,joseph, welcome back to
Bethlehem.
I see that your wife is showing.
Can we get you a place to stayoutside, with animals and no
walls?
Welcome home.
(34:39):
No, that's probably not whathappened, although the first
Christmas probably did includeboth joy at seeing family and
difficulty in that same family.
They might have had somequestions.
Joseph, I noticed there's not aring on your finger and I
notice that Mary has put onweight in a very odd place.
(35:00):
If you're not married, how muchof their family would have
believed the story?
The shepherds haven't made ityet, which means, once again,
god could have made this easier,but he doesn't, because his
greatest desire is to buildfaith in you, not create ease
(35:21):
for you.
Did the family buy their storyOnce the shepherds showed up?
Did they then that these bluecollar men all of a sudden began
worshiping.
Let's go and see what God hasdone Luke 2.15.
They return glorifying God forwhat they had seen and heard
when they walk into this placeLuke 2.20.
(35:41):
The reason I would tell you toput walls on your stable is
because it probably isn't astable.
It also probably isn't an inn.
I've pointed this out to youguys so many times.
This is my favorite Biblereading plan.
(36:02):
It's by a woman named Tara LeeCobble.
If you aren't checking it out,january tends to be a great time
to start.
I'm just throwing this up foryou because this has been such a
gift to me and I wanna pointout to you something that she
has pointed out.
Now, if you didn't notice it inyour Bible reading plan, you
may have noticed it if you wereto dig more deeply.
(36:23):
If you have a study Bible, thisis the study Bible I use.
It's the ESV.
Study Bible just means you paidan extra $20 to somebody at the
bottom is explaining to you thestuff that is above.
I highly recommend it.
My two favorite are the ESV andthe CSB study Bibles.
This is the ESV.
If you're reading it and I knowy'all can't read all of this and
you get all the way down toverse three, you'll see this
(36:44):
little number three and the wordin there.
In italics it says or guestroom.
Let me tell you why I thinkthis matters and why I think you
should begin repicturing thisin your mind.
The in in Luke comes from.
I'm going to give you a littlebit of Greek.
Okay, it's going to take all oftwo minutes.
So if you're going to zone out,I'm just telling you I need 120
(37:06):
seconds of you hitting the swigof coffee and I promise you it
is worth it.
There are two times here thatyou're going to see the word in
in the gospel of Luke.
One in two seven, which I havejust read to you.
There was no place for them inthe inn Pronounced here.
I wrote it down katalima.
Okay.
I'm always upset when peoplecome and tell me I say Greek
(37:30):
words wrong.
Okay, so I'm doing my best here.
I could say Catalina dressingand 99% of you wouldn't even
care.
But for the 1% who doeskatalima, that means in our
rendering in the other placethat we see it the word in right
here pendoheion.
(37:50):
He went to him, bound up hiswounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Then he set him on his ownanimal, brought him to an inn
and took care of him.
What is this?
A story of the Good Samaritan?
All right.
What I want you to understand isLuke, who is a doctor, who is
very good with terminology andis very educated, uses two
different words here for theterm in.
(38:13):
There's one other time that hedoes this, and he does it in
Luke 22, 11.
Tell the master of the house.
The teacher says to you whereis the catalema, where I may eat
the Passover with my disciples?
Here is what I want you torealize this is the last supper
(38:34):
Passover.
This is Jesus being born in amanger.
If Luke had wanted you topicture an inn, it makes more
sense for him to use this word,but he doesn't.
So it seems like what Luke, andtherefore what God, wants you
to picture instead is a roomvery similar to where Jesus had
(38:58):
his last meal, an upper room,which means it was of a fairly
wealthy person, which actuallymakes sense, because if I'm
Joseph traveling to Bethlehemand I have a number of relatives
and my wife is pregnant, do youknow whose house I'm picking?
The rich relative.
That's where I'm going, becauseI don't want my wife sleeping
(39:21):
in a lean-to next to a donkey,that's why.
So I'm going to the richestuncle I've got, I'm going to the
one who always gave me the bestChristmas gift, and I'm showing
up.
Hey, it's Joseph.
If you don't remember me,here's the lineage.
Hey, I've got my wife.
She's pregnant.
Is there any place that we canstay?
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And he says, oh my gosh, Idon't have any room in the guest
room right now.
This is how he arrives, cominginto this place, looking for a
place in the family home, andwhat probably happened was this
the guest room was full.
Why wouldn't it be?
There was a census taken?
Bethlehem is busting at thegills.
(40:03):
Joseph shows up and knocks onthe door and that relative, who
probably didn't send them away,said ah, the best room for you
is already taken for now.
Can you just stay here when?
Well, in the lowest floor ofthe house, most of which would
have had a manger built into itbecause in cold winter nights
(40:26):
the animals would have beenbrought in we probably don't
have Joseph showing up and beingshooed away from the Bethlehem
Inn.
We have him going to one of thewealthiest members of his
family who is saying oh, we'vealready got Nana sleeping in the
guest room.
Can you just stay in the dentonight and, by the way, that's
pretty convenient because that'swhere the manger is anyway,
(40:49):
which would make for a reallygood makeshift cradle and they
stay most likely with family,not outside.
By the way, this also means youneed to get rid of the idea of
an angry innkeeper, and that'sgoing to create problems for
next week, and I realize that.
Tell the master of the house.
(41:10):
The teacher says to you whereis the guest room where I may
eat the Passover with mydisciples?
Here is what we see.
Jesus was the Lord of creation.
Jesus was the Lord of creation.
(41:33):
He was the King of kings.
Yet in his first home and athis last meal he resided as a
guest, because this never washis home, but from this place he
would build a family and hewould call them home.
This is why Christmas startswith people very alone and
(41:53):
lonely.
This is why Christmas startswith so much fear and so much
doubt, because the goal wasnever for God to get Jesus to
sleep next to a donkey.
The goal was for him to getthem home, but not fully home,
as a guest in a home, and thento look at you and I and say, if
(42:16):
you can't see it.
Yet you will Give it a fewdecades and you're going to see
that the one who came and shouldhave been on a throne of gold
but is not.
Instead, he has come as a guest, now looks at you and says you
do not deserve to be broughtinto my home, but I will go and
(42:40):
prepare a room for you.
This is not what Jesus said tohis disciples for you.
This is not what Jesus said tohis disciples.
I will go and, through my ownbody and through my own blood, I
will make you a guest into ahome where loneliness goes to
die, where a family is createdthat will never branch out or
(43:03):
break.
Nativity isn't just where we goto prepare hymn room.
The nativity is where God wentto prepare yours.
Now, I told you I would closeby explaining to you why the
virgin mattered so much, thiscosmological thing, and so I
want to end with this as we getready to come to the table.
(43:23):
For those of you who arebelievers, this passage in
Romans is explaining to you why,before we knew her as Mary, we
knew her as virgin.
Why is that the first tag thatscripture gives her?
Because, just as sin came intothe world through one man, adam.
(43:44):
Man, adam, and death camethrough sin.
So death spread to all men, allmankind, because all sinned.
This is your birthright, and itdoesn't matter if you're a
Christian, doesn't matter ifyou're a non-Christian, doesn't
matter if you've been going tochurch your whole life or if you
haven't walked into a church in20, 30 years or ever.
(44:05):
This is your heritage.
One man, adam, who messed it uppretty bad and tucked into him
and his DNA is this desire tograsp for things that are not
his, not to come as a guest intoa world that he didn't create,
but to come as though he ownedthe whole place which, by the
(44:26):
way, is the very nature of yourown selfishness that you own the
things around you, your owntime, the people, the decisions
that you make.
And because of that, deathspread to all men, because all
sinned.
But that isn't the whole story.
It isn't a whole story becausethere was a cradle and because
there was a cross.
So, therefore, as one trespassled to condemnation for all men,
(44:53):
so one act of righteousnessleads to justification for all
men.
This is the cradle and thecross.
Jesus came for this one act ofrighteousness so that every one
(45:14):
of your acts of unrighteousnesscould be paid for, and he
painstakingly came, separatefrom his father, on a cross, all
alone.
My God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
Because the Christmas storystarts with people who are alone
and have every reason to fear,and the story of Christianity
(45:37):
ends with somebody who is allalone and would have had every
reason to fear, except he wasrighteous.
So he died, and three dayslater God looked at that
sacrifice and he said enough.
And Christ rose from the deadand a family was born.
(45:57):
A family was born not by bloodbut by faith.
But to all who do receive him,who believe in his name, he gave
the right to become children ofGod.
Jesus knew what it was to beadopted, and if you know Jesus,
you too will know what it's liketo be adopted, because we are
(46:20):
born not of blood, nor of thewill of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God.
And this is what we celebratetoday that in all of the
loneliness and all of thebrokenness there's hope.
That in all of the separation,god draws people near, in all of
(46:40):
our desire to own our world.
God says I've come as a guestand I invite you to come as one
as well.
But if you will come to my home, you will come to a family that
never ends.
Isn't this the greatest offerthat we could be given?
And it began many years ago,not in a golden cradle, but in a
(47:03):
straw-filled manger, where Godplaced his son and invites you
to become his son as well.
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