There was a man who strolled out of a hardware store with a smile on his face and a brand-new chainsaw in his hands. He was told it could cut down five big oak trees in an hour. Twenty-four hours later, however, his smile was gone. Frustrated, he was back at the store complaining that the saw would never cut five trees in an hour. "It took me all day to cut down five trees," he said.
Puzzled, the store owner stepped outside with the saw, gave the cord a swift pull, and fired up the steel-toothed beast. Its deafening roar sent the customer stumbling to get away. "What’s that noise?" he gasped.
Christmas can be like that chainsaw. The noise can bombard us from every direction. We have radio stations dedicated to playing Christmas music 24 hours a day to keep us in a festive mood. The problem is the music started before Thanksgiving and the actual songs are limited so you hear the same ones over and over again. By Christmas you are sick of the music.
Your calendar for December may be getting filled up with Christmas get-togethers. You have office parties, church dinners, friend’s drop-ins, and family gatherings. You might even be sponsoring one yourself.
And of course there is the shopping. So many presents to buy and so little money to do it with. The pressure of how much to spend on whom, fearing that they might out spend you. This has become Christmas.
But the season celebrating the birth of Jesus was not about constant singing, partying, and the stress of buying gifts. Rather it was a season of accusations, of betrayal, of excitement, of wonderment, and of worship. It was a stress-filled time of a different level. It was a time when Jesus would only be revealed to a select few. And for those few, it would become a time of celebration. Today I want to discuss those select few and why God choose them.
1) God reveals himself to those He finds favor.
The first person we will talk about is Mary. Mary is a young girl, probably between 12 and 14. This was the age that she would be betrothed, pledged to marry, to a carpenter named Joseph. This pledge would have been made by her parents on her behalf. They would have pledged their daughter to someone established, successful, and able to offer a dowry for her hand in marriage. Therefore, usually it was to an older man. Joseph may have been in his forties. That would have been customary. To be betrothed was the same as being married without the consummation of the marriage taking place. Both parties understood that faithfulness was demanded.
One day God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary. Luke 1:28-35 “Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.” Mary agreed and the angel left.
God reveals his plans and his Son to those who He favors.
He decides by his unwarranted grace and kindness whom He will benefit with this knowledge. Many intelligent men and women have read the scriptures as nothing more than an ancient manuscript about an ancient people. They have left with a great knowledge of this wonderful book. However, they leave with no knowledge of God’s plan for their lives or the revelation of their savior Jesus.
Sadly, many people sit in church every Sunday and leave with no revelation of God’s plan for their lives and a relationship with Jesus. If you have this knowledge, it is because you found favor with God.
2) God reveals himself to those He honors.
Mary goes to see her cousin Elizabeth. Remember Mary is just a child so she certainly would not have decided to make this trip on her own. I have to wonder if she confided in her parents that she was pregnant and they sent her away to protect her from harm. The penalty for adultery was stoning. And who was going to believe that she was impregnated by God.
Elizabeth at the time was pregnant herself. Her son would be John the Baptist. When Mary arrived, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her womb and she knew through the Holy Spirit that Mary carried the Son of God. Let’s read Luke 1: 42- 43. “Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me?”
To honor meant to glorify, to hold in high esteem. We glorify God and honor him because He is worthy. But God honors us also. Each of us was created a little lower than the angels.
Hebrews 2:6-7 “For in one place the Scriptures say, “What are mere mortals that you should think about them, or a son of man that you should care for him? Yet you made them only a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.” God has crowned you with glory and honor. You are worthy in his sight based on your relationship with his Son and nothing else. He holds you in high esteem. We should walk with our heads held high because of who we are in his sight.
It was in his desire to honor Elizabeth that He allowed his Spirit to reveal Jesus to her. And it was his desire to honor us that the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us daily.
3) God reveals himself to good people.
Imagine how Joseph must have felt. It was obvious from the baby bump that Mary was pregnant. He knew it wasn’t his. The only conclusion he could come to was that Mary had been unfaithful. He was humiliated. The town would expect him to take legal charges against her, even if it meant her death. If he didn’t, they would assume he was the father and had taken advantage of her.
Let’s read Matthew 1:19-24 “Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. ‘Joseph, son of David,’ the angel said, ‘do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
‘Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means “God is with us.”’
When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.”
What makes a good person a good person? It is their actions. Joseph had every right to go to Mary’s house and drag her out to be publicly humiliated. This was his wife by tradition and she had been unfaithful. But because he was a good man he decided to break the agreement quietly and release her from all obligations to him. Jesus said you can identify good people “by their fruit, that is, by the way they act.”
Good people will do good things. Good people will not be influenced by the opinions of others. They will not be swayed by the popular view points of the world around them. God reveals his plans and his Son to good people. He will empower good people to step out and declare the Good News of the birth of Jesus.
4) God reveals himself to the humble.
Luke 2:8-14 “That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
In the Old Testament being a shepherd was an acceptable occupation. But that was not true at the time of Jesus’ birth.
In that day, they were so little trusted that a shepherd's testimony would not be accepted in a courtroom. Most shepherds were considered on a par with Gypsies, vagrants, and con men. Add to that the fact that shepherds were on the lowest rung of the economic ladder and had little or no formal education. It is entirely possible that these shepherds who heard the angels singing were illiterate. The religious leaders would have classified them with the tax collectors and other sinners. Shepherds would not be able to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath. Instead they would be working in violation of God’s law. They were basically homeless, living in the fields, and social outcast.
And it was these broken, rejected people that God chose to reveal his plans and his Son. The Bible says God “gives grace to the humble.” Wouldn’t it have been more of an impact if the angels had appeared in Jerusalem, over the temple, to the religious leaders? Wouldn’t that have made Jesus’ role as the Son of God much easier to accept? But one thing the religious did not need was something else to be prideful about. Instead He chose the ones not chosen. When we humble ourselves before God and push our pride aside then God can reveal his plans and his Son to us.
5) God reveals himself to those who are waiting.
When it came time for Mary’s purification offering Mary and Joseph went to the temple as required by the law. They also took Jesus to dedicate him to God, also a requirement by law.
Now let’s read Luke 2: 25-30 “At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, ‘Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation,’”
Know one knows how old Simeon was. It seems he must have been elderly because he felt he was near death. We also are not told how long he had been waiting. But he was waiting with eagerness.
Have you ever been waiting on God to do something in your life? Sometimes it seems that thing you are waiting for will never come to be. The Word says “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think.” Everything is on his time table. If God has promised you something through the Holy Spirit, you eagerly await for that promise. How long do you wait? Until that promise is fulfilled. God reveals his plans and his Son to those who eagerly wait such revealing.
6) God reveals himself to those who are in church.
Also in the temple that day was elderly woman named Anna. She was a widow. Let’s read her story in Luke 2:37-38. “Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.”
Can you imagine never leaving the church? It’s hard enough just to get here right? But if you lived here you never have to worry about getting here. Honestly, she probably lived there because, as an 84 year old widow, she had no where to go and no one to turn too. It was because she was at church though that God revealed his plans and his Son to her.
People not affiliated with any church are lost. Now I am not saying spiritually lost and heading for hell. But lost in the sense that they are wandering aimlessly through life with no direction or sense of purpose. My role as pastor is to equip you, to teach you, so you can learn to hear from God. That is what I strive to do each week. Bring you a word from God that reveals his plans and his Son to you.
7) God reveals himself to those who seek him.
Matthew 2:1-2 “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.’”
This is where a lot of us started. Something in life happened that made us begin to seek an answer. We need to know that there was more to life than just this. So we sought him and He revealed himself and He revealed his plans and He revealed his Son. And we found the King.
This too is Christmas. Like opening presents God revealing himself to us through a newborn infant. Get away from the noise this Christmas for a few moments and celebrate the birth of Jesus.
